


Come Away to the Slaughter (Come Away to the Water)

by FaileGaidin



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010), Stargate Atlantis
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-12
Updated: 2012-05-12
Packaged: 2017-11-05 05:29:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 58,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/402943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaileGaidin/pseuds/FaileGaidin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a zombie plague spreads through Hawaii (and the rest of the world), the 5-0 team has to make difficult decisions and flee their homes. Coming across a Stargate, but not understanding what it is, they have to choose between facing the horrors on their planet or escaping to somewhere unknown. When they end up in the Pegasus Galaxy, they think they're somewhat safe... until Atlantis falls and they're on the run again, this time with new friends and no idea where to go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: The biggest of thanks to [info]citymusings for a) putting up with my insanity, b) dealing with a story that involved zombies, c) cheerleading of the highest order, and d) beta-ing this beast. This would not have gotten done without you, my dear.  
> A/N 2: Song referenced somewhere near the end is "A Thousand Years" by Christina Perri.  
> Disclaimer: Gabby is the only main character that belongs to me.  
> A/N 3: Anybody reading my story "For This Dance We'll Move with Each Other" will recognize Gabby. She is, in fact, the same character. This is just an alternate way for her and Danny to meet.  
> Disclaimer: Gabby is the only character that belongs to me. Everyone else belongs to their respective creators and I'm just playing with them.

The glass shouldn't have broken.

Five-0 headquarters was state of the art. The governor wanting her task force to have everything they needed right at their fingertips. The two-way mirror looking into the interrogation room was shatterproof, and it would have taken a great deal of force just to crack it, never mind breaking all the way through it. And the woman sitting in the room was barely a blip on the radar - nothing more than the girlfriend of a man known for selling illegal weapons - and they were only planning to use her to get to bigger game. 

She was small and blonde, her skin covered with a sheen of sweat that Chin had chalked up to drugs and nerves. They left her waiting in there alone while the other members of his team ran down a new lead. Chin stood on the other side of that shatterproof glass, watching the woman carefully, trying to get a read on her before they went in and started the actual questioning. 

The suspect leaped through it like it wasn't even there.

One second she had been just sitting there, shaking and sweating, her hair stringy as it hung around her face. The next, she was jumping to her feet with a terrible shriek and charging the mirror, her face contorted into an ugly and desperate expression that Chin would have burned in his brain for the rest of his life.

She broke through the glass, seemingly unaware of the way it sliced her skin and made her bleed. Chin had stepped back at her sudden movement, but the space around him was narrow and he didn't get far enough. Her flying leap brought her body into painful contact with his and they both slammed to the ground, his head ricocheting off the cement floor. 

He tried to reach his gun as he shouted for help, but the woman was unbelievably strong. She had him pinned to the floor completely and Chin could actually smell her. It made his throat clench and he turned his head in an effort to get away from it - to get away from her - but there was nowhere for him to go.

Her teeth sank into his shoulder just as the little room flooded with uniforms. He screamed in pain and surprise, but then she was off of him, six officers trying to restrain her as another knelt next to Chin. They both watched in horror and disgust as she proceeded to draw blood from everyone within arm's reach, until one officer pulled out his flashlight and slammed it into the back of her head. The blow was enough to render her unconscious, and they all let out a long ragged breath of relief. 

"We should get you to the hospital," the cop next to him said.

Chin frowned. "It's just a bite."

He looked over at the unconscious woman. "Do you seriously want to risk it? Who knows what diseases she's carrying."

The man had a point, and his teammates would have his ass if he didn't get himself checked out. He let the cop help him to his feet.

"Let's go, then."

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By the time Kono and the others got to the hospital, Chin wasn't feeling well. The doctor had cleaned the wound as best he could, but it was still ugly. The broken skin was jagged and red, and the entire area around it was steadily turning purple. The bite was big enough that Chin suspected she had been trying to take his whole shoulder off. They were running his blood now for any infections, and he was hoping that after that he would be able to go home. He just wanted this day to end. 

"Holy shit," Danny muttered as the three of them stepped around the curtain. "She really did take a piece outta ya."

Chin tried to shrug, but it sent a lancing pain through his arm and shoulder. "A love bite."

"No, seriously, dude. That looks nasty."

His head was pounding and the lights overhead were too bright. The emergency room was full of noises and voices and they all seemed just a little loud. He hadn't mentioned hitting his head on the floor, and he wondered if that had been a mistake. Bringing it up now, though, would mean more questions and tests. 

"I'll live," he said calmly. "Did you catch the bastard?"

Steve shook his head. "Dead end. Looks like we'll need to try the girlfriend."

"Yeah, well make sure she's under some heavy duty chains, brah. It took six cops to get her off of me."

Kono was quiet, hands balling into fists at her side as she just ran her eyes over him. Neither of them liked when the other was injured - they were family - but they also knew better than to hover and smother. Glancing over at her, Chin wasn't sure if she wanted to punch something or cry. He sincerely hoped Steve didn't let her in the interrogation room.

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He itched.

It wasn't a tickle, though. He dug his nails into his skin and tried to get at whatever was crawling underneath the surface, drawing blood in more than one place. It didn't matter how deep he went, though; none of it made him feel better. His brain didn't even register the pain that it should have. 

He pulled his hands away from his body and saw that they were shaking. He told them to stop, to still, to pause, but the messages either never made it that far, or his body was just ignoring them. 

The heat was just as bad as the itching, if not worse. Sweat was soaking his hair, his shirt, his arms slick with it. He had the sneaking suspicion that it started in the bite on his shoulder and radiated out, consuming his entire body. 

He was afraid it was enough to make him go insane. 

Steve had told him to stay home for the day. It was sound logic, and Chin knew that. He needed rest more than anything else. Unfortunately, his body didn't agree. The bite that should have protested every time he moved it didn't, and he was practically bouncing with an energy he'd never had before. It was like a mix of being drunk and horny and high on adrenaline and he thought if he could just get moving he could control what was going on inside of him. 

He had the keys to his bike in his hands when his phone rang.

"Kelly," he said, forcing himself to stop in the open doorway and answer. 

"Chin." 

He could hear the relief in his cousin's voice, and for the moment, everything else was pushed to the background.

"Kono, what's wrong?"

"I need you to stay in your house, Chin," she said, her voice tighter than he'd ever heard it before. "Please."

"Why? What's going on?"

There was a pause and he could hear some kind of commotion on the other end before she responded. "There's some kind of outbreak at the hospitals."

"Which one?"

"All of them."

"What do you mean?"

"I..." She sounded helpless, and Chin could see her in his mind, running a hand through her hair and looking up at the ceiling like it might hold some kind of answer. "I don't know, Chin. We've got reports of some kind of epidemic. It's making people violent and the governor's sending us out to try and get the hospitals back in order. I just...I need to know that you're safe, okay? I need you to stay inside and away from other people."

He wasn't thinking about himself, though. "Malia -"

"We're heading out that way now," she interrupted. "I'll find her, okay? I'll make sure she's safe. But you have to promise me, Chin. I need to know that I don't have to worry about you."

He didn't want to promise any such thing. He was a cop. It was his job to be out there helping just as much as it was hers and the rest of the team's. A wave of nausea rolled through him, though, and he felt his legs weakening. If he went out in this condition, he was going to end up being more of a hindrance to his team than anything else. It didn't matter what his pride and honor were telling him - he wasn't going to put his ohana at risk because they were too busy worrying about him. 

"Okay," he said finally. "I don't like it, but...okay. I'll stay put."

"You promise?"

His mouth quirked up at one corner at the insistence in her voice. "I promise, cuz. Go. You've got work to do."

"I'll call when I've got Malia."

She disconnected without another word. Despite his promise to her, Chin stared at the keys in his hand for a long time. The weird adrenaline was still coursing through him, but he felt weak suddenly, and he wondered if that woman had passed some kind of strange disease onto him, even though the doctor had given him the all clear. If it didn't let up by morning, and if the hospitals weren't still reeling from whatever was going on, maybe he'd go back in and let them poke him with needles again.

As he swung the door shut, a sharp pain lanced through his stomach, forcing him to double over and cry out. The keys and phone fell from his hands and clattered to the floor as his legs gave out and he collapsed.

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The hospital was a madhouse. Steve, Kono and Danny ran in, unsure of what to expect, but there wasn't any way they could have been prepared for this. They used the emergency entrance only to find the waiting room trashed. Chairs were toppled over, a few lying broken along the walls. The TV screen was dark and sporting a large hole in the center, and the glass around the nurse's welcome station was lying in shards on the carpet. 

Steve pulled his gun out and the others followed suit. 

"Eyes open," he said quietly. 

They rounded the corner and headed for the controlled door that led into the emergency room. It had been ripped from its hinges and lay on the floor now, the glass of the small window shattered. Something that looked disturbingly like blood pooled on the edges of the shards. 

"I thought we were dealing with sick people here," Danny said, "not crazy."

"Maybe whatever their infected with is making them crazy," Kono suggested. "We've certainly seen drugs that can do it."

Alarms were going off inside of the ER. It was a cacophony of beeps and warning bells, and it kept them from hearing anything else that might help them figure out what was going on. Which was why they didn't hear the guy until he crashed out of one of the rooms, colliding with the desk of the unoccupied nurse's station and resting there as he clung to it. 

"Sir?" Steve asked, stepping forward cautiously. "Sir, are you alright?"

The man turned around and all three of them froze. There was something wrong with his face; the skin seemed to be peeling away in places, and none of it was the right color. It was a sickening hue somewhere between green and grey and it made his bloodshot eyes stick out all the more. The look he was giving them was feral and feverish, and Steve wondered if the man had any idea where he was or what was going on. Maybe the virus shut down rational thinking.

"Sir," Steve tried again, "I need you to put your hands where I can see them."

His hands weren't really the problem. Both appeared to be empty, but he took a step toward them, mouth open and teeth bared. 

"Sir..."

He charged at them suddenly, roaring like a frenzied animal. All three stood their ground, firing at him, their bullets lodging themselves in his legs, torso and shoulders.

He didn't stop. 

At the last minute, Danny reached out and grabbed Steve's arm, pulling them both to the right as Kono dove to the left. She rolled smoothly and landed back up on one knee, her gun aimed steadily. The man had passed them and then spun around, obviously intent on hurting them. Her only thought was bringing him down so that she and her team could stay alive. When a shot to the heart didn't stop him, she followed it up with a shot to the center of his forehead. 

He dropped to the floor with a thud.

For a moment they all just sat there, breathing heavily and staring at the body in disbelief. 

"You think that sucker's airborne?" Danny finally asked.

"I'd say we should ask a doctor, but..." Steve leaned a little bit closer, "...this appears to be a Dr. Moriarty. And he's not taking any more questions." His gaze slid over to Kono. "That was a damn good shot."

"Thanks," she breathed, getting to her feet. "Looks like this epidemic wiped out the whole ER. We should check the rest of the hospital, though."

"Wiped out?" Danny asked, looking around with his arms outstretched. "I mean, if it killed them, there would be bodies. So did it turn them all into crazies like him?" he asked, pointing at the body. "And if so, where are they now? Out all over the island spreading this thing?"

Steve pulled out his phone. "I'll call the governor and we'll check the rest of the hospital. If there are survivors -"

"But how do we know who's infected and who's not?" Danny asked. "I imagine there's a period of time before they start looking and acting like our corpse over there."

There was a small crash and all three whirled around to see someone crash through the door that led to a stairwell. Gun raised, Steve stepped forward to take point again.

"Freeze!" he yelled.

The person turned around sharply, eyes wide with fear, and it took Kono just a second to realize who she was looking at. 

"Malia?"

"Oh thank God," she sobbed, stepping towards them. "I thought I was the only one left here." She stopped suddenly when her eyes landed on the body behind them, one hand moving up to the cover her mouth. "Oh God," she whispered. "David."

"You know him?" Steve asked.

Malia nodded. "He's one of our surgeons."

"Was," Danny corrected, running a hand over his hair. "What the hell is this thing, Malia? And are we all gonna get it just standing here?"

She shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest protectively. "No, no...from what I've seen, you have to be bitten. That's what happened...one of the ER patients went crazy while they had him on the table and he started biting people. And then they would get a fever and then the chills and sensitivity to light and noise...and then..." She looked at Moriarty and shuddered. "It just spread so fast."

Kono gripped her gun tighter. "Bitten?" She looked at Steve and Danny. "Chin."

Malia's head snapped up. "What about Chin?"

"He was bitten by a suspect earlier today."

Kono pulled out her phone, trying to block out the tears that had sprung to Malia's eyes or the look of abject terror on her face. She pressed the speed dial for Chin's number and then pressed the phone to her ear, focusing on steadying her breathing.

He didn't pick up. 

His voice mail didn't click on either. 

Disconnecting the call, she met Steve's eyes. "We need to go."

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Gabby found him out on the balcony, like she usually did. She had to give Sheppard credit - he was good. He told his jokes and let his snark show, never easing up on Rodney or withholding laughter. He led his team out into the field over and over again, always coming back, always bringing his friends back. He joined in with others when he ate in the cafeteria. He shared a drink with the locals when they invited him. He just projected this air of being laid back and completely at ease with where he was in his life.  
She knew that it was all a lie.  
A part of him had died two years ago, and it was a black hole that was slowly eating away at the rest of him. Gabby often found him wandering the hallways of Atlantis late at night, or sitting in the cafeteria, staring into nothingness. And when he wasn't there, he was out on that balcony, the one that had been theirs. He would stare up at the stars or down into the black depths, and she could almost feel the weight that was slowly crushing the life out of him.  
Sometimes she went out there, too. She didn't say anything; she just came up and stood beside him, temporarily sharing the guilt with him.  
John wasn't the only one that missed Elizabeth. The entire city felt the loss of her presence and seemed to move differently because she wasn't there. It sounded cliche to say it, but she really had been the heart, giving them a pulse to live by, to move by, and for some of them, to breathe by. Somehow, she had always known what each person needed just to get them through the difficulties of the day - whether it was a smile for those feeling lonely or forgotten, a word of encouragement for those slowly sinking under the weight of responsibility, or a kick in the butt reminding them that their work was important for those that were having trouble getting themselves to focus. 

Gabby was a people-watcher. Always had been. She observed, filing little tidbits away in the hopes that later on down the road, those tiny puzzle pieces would help her in some way. Though that made her sound like an opportunist, it was really just a habit that had kept her alive through her entire adult life so far. She didn't use her information to back people against the wall or get them to do things against their will. She just filed things away and acted accordingly with each person - a heightened version of what most people did in their everyday interactions.

She knew that sometimes Rodney would just stop in the middle of his work and stare off into space. Most people thought that he was having brilliant revelations about what he was tinkering with, but that wasn't always the case. Gabby had heard him mutter things under his breath about Replicators and occasionally Elizabeth's name would slip from his lips. Sometimes she would steal a glance at his computer screen and see that he wasn't working on anything current, but revisiting a map of the known universe, eyes searching and haunted. And sometimes he would go up to Elizabeth's old office - which had been re-purposed and given to others - with a look in his eye that faded once he looked around and realized who was sitting behind the desk. 

Teyla wasn't so obvious, but her pain felt heavier at times. Walking through the control room of Atlantis, her eyes would drift up to that same office and linger. Sometimes she would pause in whatever she was doing and stare at the glass walls, as though if she stared long enough, the person she was thinking about would reappear. Eventually she would let out a sigh that was almost closer to a shudder sliding through her body and then she would move on, her shoulders sagging a bit as she walked away. 

Ronon was even harder to notice, but Gabby was patient and a good observer. He never said anything, never really let it slip that he missed Atlantis' former leader. Gabby had been there, though, when he had sat with Elizabeth in the infirmary. She had hung back, just like she always did, not announcing her presence to anyone. She had heard the pain in his voice and seen the desperation in his eyes. Despite the fact that he and Elizabeth weren't ones to sit down and have a long talk with each other, he had respected her more than most. That was the highest compliment the Satedan knew to pay, and it wasn't something he gave out easily. For him, Sheppard and Weir had been the parents of the city, guiding it with a gentle, but firm hand. They didn't always make the best decisions, but they stood by their people, no matter what. And Gabby knew that his inability to save Weir ate at him. Sometimes she would find him late at night in the sparring room, grunting with effort as he pummeled at a practice dummy. The sheen of sweat across his body told the story of how long he had been there, and she knew that at three in the morning, it was demons that he was fighting off. And though not all of those were based on things that had happened to him since coming to the city, she knew that Elizabeth's absence was at least on the list. 

There were other people too, of course. Major Lorne. Zelenka. Caldwell, once he had gotten back and discovered that Elizabeth was no longer with them. Stackhouse. Heightmeyer. Carson. Gabby saw the pain in all of them, whether it was pronounced or not. Elizabeth's absence left a hole in the city that threw everything off, just a hair, just enough that nothing was quite in sync anymore. 

Elizabeth had been her friend, too, though she never brought that up. They had met at the UN years before Atlantis and had hit it off immediately. Gabby was impressed by any woman that could swim the ocean with the sharks and still retain more than just a fleeting resemblance to humanity. Elizabeth was beautiful, funny, and kind, and she hadn't been preoccupied with busting everyone's balls. It was a pleasant change from the other “powerful” women Gabby was used to coming into contact with. The call from Elizabeth inviting her to join her team on the Atlantis project had been a pleasant surprise and she had jumped at the chance.

And now one of her closest friends was in the hand of a merciless enemy, if she was even alive at all. 

Gabby stepped out onto the balcony until she was standing next to John, her shoulder brushing against his upper arm. The air was warm, but there was a relieving breeze blowing gently through the city. Taking a deep breath, she let her eyes close.

She wasn't sure how long they stood like that, not moving, not speaking. Eventually, though, it was obvious that John wasn't going to speak to her this time either, and she wanted to give him his space. Reaching out, she squeezed his arm once, letting the touch linger before turning away and leaving him to his own dark thoughts.

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Chin wasn't at home. His place was trashed, though, as if it had been ransacked and looted. Kono picked her way through the mess, her stomach and chest painfully tight as she struggled to keep her breathing even. Her mind was flashing back to the last time she saw her cousin – the haunted look in his eyes, the sheen of sweat across his forehead. They'd had no way of knowing the possibilities of what that woman had carried in her saliva, but looking back it seemed obvious now. She had been infected and had passed it on to Chin and now her cousin was gone. 

When it was obvious that the house was empty, Danny turned to a stricken Malia. “How quickly?” he demanded.

She frowned, shaking her head as she tried to get a hold of her emotions. “What?”

“How quickly would this thing spread if unchecked?”

Malia struggled to wrap her head around the question, searching through everything she knew about the spread of contagion. “It's not a long incubation period,” she said finally. “And we don't even know what it is, never mind a way to cure it. We don't know how many are infected or how quickly they move...” She looked at Danny, her eyes full of fear. “Danny...we've got nothing.” She seemed to shake herself again before turning to McGarrett. “We need to call the Governor, get this thing as high up the chain as possible.”

Steve nodded and pulled out his phone, already dialing. “Danny, go.”

His friend was looking pained and torn. “You need -”

“No. You need to go. Make sure that Grace and Rachel are okay and then we'll meet back up.” Danny took another moment to think and then nodded, bolting out the door. Steve had the phone to his ear, but a moment later he shook his head and cursed. “No one is picking up.”

“So what now?” Kono asked. “Do we go after Chin or do we go for the Governor?”

Steve was at a loss. There were plenty of things he was trained for, but epidemic diseases that turned people into the equivalent of zombies was not one of them. They had no way to know how far this thing had spread or in which direction. He had his best friend running for his family and another teammate possibly – probably – infected. 

His phone rang, making them all jump and he hurried to answer it. “McGarrett.”

What he heard on the other end wasn't entirely coherent. He thought he recognized the voice of a uniform they'd worked with a few times in the past, but he wasn't sure and he wasn't getting a name. There were ragged screams echoing in the background and he thought he could hear the sound of shattering glass and violent pounding. 

"Five-0!" the person yelled into the phone. "They've gotten into Five-0! MCGARRETT! -" 

Steve yelled into the phone, begging the person to hang on, to tell him what was going on. But there weren't any words after that outburst. Just more screaming and things breaking and Steve found himself listening to a dead connection as his chest tightened. Things were spinning completely out of his control.

"The decision was just made for us," he bit out, leading Kono and Malia out of the house. "This thing just hit headquarters."

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Danny couldn’t breathe as he pressed down on the accelerator, sending the Camaro flying down the road. There were only residential roads between Grace and him, and despite the fact that his heart was lodged in his throat, he couldn’t help but notice the chaos that was going on around him. There were people running down the street screaming, some of them bleeding. The part of him that had been a cop most of his adult life told him to stop the car and render assistance. It was what he was supposed to do. 

But this was his baby girl they were talking about, and there was absolutely nothing he wouldn’t do to get to her and make sure that she was safe. The rest of the team knew what was going on and they were just going to have to handle it until he had his daughter. 

Things looked normal when he pulled into Rachel’s driveway, but that didn’t set his mind at ease. With everything else that was going on, it was almost too normal and quiet. Parking right in front of the gate, he went up and pushed the intercom button. Despite the fact that he could see Rachel’s car in the driveway, there was no response, and that was enough to make Danny want to be sick. Staring up at the top of the gate, he decided that Rachel could yell at him for overreacting later.

It took a decent amount of work and sweat to get himself up and over the gate, and it was a much longer drop than he had realized. But no alarms sounded and no one came running out to yell at him, and that made Danny’s stomach clench even more. He drew his gun as he approached the house, wondering if he should try the front door or go around to the back.

That was when he heard his baby girl screaming. 

The front door didn’t even stand a chance. Danny channeled all of his anger and fear and kicked it down in a way that would have been Steve ridiculously proud. Though the house was big, Danny didn’t have to waste any time searching the downstairs. Grace’s screams - now mixed with a strange moaning and heavy pounding - were obviously coming from the second floor. He flew up the stairs, gun in hand, already swearing vengeance on whatever asshole was trying to hurt his daughter.

When he got to the top of the stairs, though, there was no stranger standing there. There was no big man pounding on the door, trying to force his way in. It was just Rachel and a woman Danny recognized as the maid, their fists landing with heavy thuds as they beat at the door. Danny frowned, not understanding.

“Rachel -”

Her head snapped around unnaturally fast and Danny almost dropped his gun at what he saw. She looked just like the doctor that had attacked them in the hospital, her skin greying and peeling off in large chunks. Her eyes were way past bloodshot and the moan that escaped her when she saw him sent a chill down his spine. 

“Rachel,” he said, his voice breaking. He remembered what it had taken to stop the doctor. He couldn’t do that here, not to Rachel. “Rachel, please...”

She didn’t respond. There was no sign that she even understood the words coming out of his mouth. A moment of silence fell over them as Danny tried to think of some way he could save his daughter and his ex-wife. Nothing was adding up the way he wanted it to, though.

And then they were rushing him.

It was both of them and the sudden movement startled him even though he’d been tensing, waiting for it. He fired a useless shot into the heart of the maid, but she just kept coming. Instead of taking another shot, he feinted left and went right, diving past them, rolling down the hall. When he’d regained his feet, he saw that the maid was coming after him again. This time, his bullet sliced through the center of her forehead and she went down with a thud. 

He didn’t have time to catch his breath. Rachel wasn’t paying attention to him anymore, her body slamming into Grace’s door once again. He didn’t know how long they had been at it before he got there, but the door was obviously weakened and its hinges were starting to give. Grace was screaming at the top of her lungs, begging her mother to stop.

Danny almost charged her. He wanted to. Even if it meant getting bit, he would have rather let Rachel kill him than the alternative. But it wasn’t just himself that he needed to think about. He couldn’t sacrifice himself and leave Grace alone. Maybe if Steve or Kono had been there. He would have entrusted his daughter into their care and gone down with Rachel. But he would not abandon his baby girl to this new world where all the rules had changed. He would not make her face those horrors alone. 

“Rachel.” 

He had meant it to come out as a yell, but his voice was completely broken, tears streaming down his face. It was enough, though. She turned to look at him, probably torn between which one of them she was going to kill first. Danny searched her eyes, not sure if he was hoping to see a bit of Rachel still inside somewhere. It was probably better that he didn’t - it made what he had to do just a little bit easier. 

If not easier, it at least took the full brunt of the decision out of his hands. 

"I love you," he whispered.

He didn't let himself say anything more, or to think it over again. Grace was the most important thing. And this was what he had to do to make sure that she was safe. Taking careful aim and a deep breath to steady his hands, Danny pulled the trigger and ended it.

It took him a moment to realize that his daughter was still screaming. Stepping over Rachel and fighting down a wave of nausea, Danny pressed his face to the door.

"Gracie?"

"DANNO!" she cried, relief heavy in her voice. "Danno, help me!"

"I will, baby," he promised. He looked down at Rachel and realized that he couldn't let his daughter see this. "Gracie, I need you to listen to me. Are you listening?"

He could almost see her earnest nod. "Yes."

"You're safe in there, okay? I just need to take care of something first before you open the door. Don't worry - I'm not leaving. I promise."

There was a short pause. "Is it Mrs. Puoau?" she asked in a small voice.

That had been the maid's name. "Yeah, Monkey. Just let me take care of this and then I'll get you out of here. Don't open the door until I tell you to."

Once he had gotten a promise out of her, Danny holstered his gun and stared down at his ex-wife. Somehow this was even worse than putting a bullet through her head. This was something Grace never needed to see, though, and that meant that he had to move her. He closed his eyes briefly and ran through the layout of the house - Grace had been so excited to give them a tour when they moved in - and remembered that there was an office that Stan used at the end of the hall. That would probably be the best place. 

For a second, Danny wondered where Stan was. But Danny's list of people that he needed to worry about was already long enough, and Stan just didn't make the cut. It might have been heartless, but he could admit that it was true. 

He took care of the bodies as quickly as he could, knowing that drawing the task out was only going to make things worse for him and make Grace worry. Rachel was lighter than she had been while they were together and for some reason that made him sad. Once he got them both into the study, he propped them up against the far wall. Pausing in the doorway on his way out, he fought the sudden urge to break down. There was nothing more he could do for Rachel. He couldn't even bring himself to close her eyes - he didn't know if this thing was transmitted by all bodily fluids and he couldn't risk it. 

Shutting the door firmly and wishing that he could lock it, he headed back down to Grace's room, taking a deep breath before knocking gently. 

“Monkey?”

Her voice was subdued. “Yeah, Danno?”

“You can open the door now.”

Danny knelt down as heard something behind moved away from the door and the lock being disengaged. The door opened slowly and then he saw Grace, the sight causing his breathing to stutter. Her eyes were haunted and her cheeks stained with tears, but she was there and she looked like she was supposed to. No greying skin, no vacant stare. He hated that his daughter was in pain, but he was glad that she was alive enough to feel. 

“C’mere,” he whispered.

She threw herself into his arms, clutching him like she was trying to squeeze the air out of him. Danny just held her, breathing her in, one hand running over her hair. His baby girl was alive.

After a minute, he pulled back slightly, eyes roving over her body. “You okay?” he asked. The weight of that question hit him suddenly and his hands ran up and down her arms, searching out any cuts. “Did she bite you or scratch you? Are you bleeding?”

Grace just shook her head. “No. I’m okay, Danno.” She bit her bottom lip. “Is that how everybody’s getting sick?”

Danny nodded. “Yeah. You’re sure you’re not hurt?”

She turned around slowly, letting him see that her clothes weren’t torn and her skin was unbroken. Whatever this thing was, it didn’t have her. Which meant that they needed to get moving before anyone else showed up at the house.

“Let’s pack you a bag, okay? We’re gonna go find your Uncle Steve and Kono.”

“Like I’m going to your house?”

Danny thought for a second. “Like we’re spending the weekend hiking with Uncle Steve.”

Grace nodded and led him into her bedroom. Danny took a second to marvel at his daughter and her ability to shove aside her fear to get something done. She was so much like him, in ways he had never really noticed before. If she was busy, she could focus on the task at hand and freak out later. Danny was expecting a breakdown from her - hell, she deserved one - but he wanted to make sure they were some place safe when that happened. 

It didn’t take them long to get a few clothes into her pink backpack. Danny watched her hesitate slightly as her hand hovered over her Barbies and her stuffed animals. In the end, she picked a small teddy bear that Rachel had bought for her crib before she was even born and put it in the bag. 

They headed down to the kitchen next and Danny grabbed Stan’s gym bag, emptying its contents and replacing them with bottles of water, peanut butter, bread and fruit. A couple of juice boxes and some of those trail mix snacks that Grace always took to school with her rounded everything out and then he zipped the bag and crouched down in front of his daughter.

“You ready, Gracie?”

She had her backpack on and she was trying to be brave, but he could see the fear and uncertainty in her eyes.

“Danno...did they get Mommy?”

The air stopped in the middle of his throat, threatening to choke him. It took him a couple of tries to get it down and then he was breathing, the action shaky and almost painful. His hands rested on Grace’s shoulders and he squeezed them softly.

“Yeah, Monkey,” he whispered. “They did.”

Her bottom lip trembled and then the tears came, sliding down her cheeks as she tried to keep her sobs in. Danny just picked her up in his arms, letting her cry against his neck. Grabbing the gym bag and looking once more around the house, he headed for the door and pressed the button that would activate the gate. 

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Steve wasn't answering his phone, and neither was Kono. Danny tried to ignore the way his stomach turned each time they didn't pick up, but a nagging voice in the back of his head kept asking him what he was going to do if they had been attacked, too. What he had lost back at the house was still fresh in his mind, and he wasn't sure he could handle losing more people. His eyes kept darting up to the rearview mirror, searching out Grace, using her as his focal point. He had to keep his head on straight; his daughter needed him. 

It was getting difficult to drive. Traffic had built up and there were accidents everywhere. The first one they passed, Danny almost pulled over to stop - until he got a good look at the driver. The disease was spreading and he couldn't put Grace in that kind of danger. 

He was almost halfway back to headquarters when he saw a familiar face. She was standing on the side of the road next to a busted up taxi, head snapping to each side as she tried to find the best possible escape route. The driver of the taxi was just getting out of the car, his movements slow and disjointed.

It didn't take Danny long to realize that he was infected. 

He glanced back at Grace once more and then swerved the car over, rolling down the passenger side window.

"Mary!"

Steve's sister turned to look at him, relief flooding through her as soon as she recognized him. She sprinted for his car, tossing her bag through the open window and then quickly depositing herself in the passenger seat.

"You bit?" Danny asked, suddenly wondering what he would do if Mary McGarrett were infected.

She frowned at him. "What?"

"Are. You. Bit," he choked out, emphasizing each word. "Anybody bite you, scratch you, attack you, whatever?"

Her eyes moved back to the taxi and she got a good look at the driver as he started to amble over to them. Her eyes went wide.

"Oh my God," she breathed. "What's wrong with him?"

"Did he bite you?!" Danny asked, his voice cracking as he practically screamed at her.

That brought her attention back to him and she shook her head. "No, Danny, I swear to God. I'm clean."

"Good."

He threw the car into drive and peeled away from the curb.

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Gabby stared down at John as he stood by the Gate, waiting for his team. He probably thought that no one was aware of the date, but she always kept a close eye on the calendar, and she wouldn’t have been surprised if Teyla and Carson had it marked in their heads. Gabby glanced up as the Athosian woman came to stand beside her, suited up for the off-world mission.

“Carson mentioned that you were looking for me,” she said quietly.

Gabby nodded. “I probably don’t have to say this, but please keep an eye on him. You know how he can get.”

“The anniversary is not for another few days.” So Teyla did keep track of it. “Do you expect us to be gone that long?”

“I fully expect Colonel Sheppard to get himself into trouble. It’s just...it’s how he deals with things he refuses to deal with. A gunfight or possibly blowing something up...I think it makes him feel better.” She shrugged. “Either that, or he figures there’s a chance he might not come back and he takes a twisted comfort from that thought. Whichever it is...”

Teyla nodded. “I will watch him. And do my best to keep him out of trouble.” She smirked. “Though that has not always proven effective in the past.”

“Well, it is Sheppard we’re talking about here.” Gabby sighed. “You should go. He’s going to start tapping his foot like a little boy if you keep him waiting much longer.”

Teyla rested her hand on Gabby’s elbow for just a second and then headed down the stairs toward her team. John gave her a tight smile as she joined them and then he looked up, catching Gabby’s eye. She was worried about what she saw there - the tiredness, the pain, the utter lack of any hope that he would eventually feel better. But John just raised a hand to her in parting and then turned, leading his team through the Gate.

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Things were deteriorating too quickly. As Steve, Kono, and Malia raced toward 5-0 headquarters, Steve turned the radio on, hoping to find out that some amount of control was still with the island’s authorities. Instead, they learned that the island was being quarantined, all air and water traffic indefinitely suspended. Traffic jams were clogging the roads, which only gave the infected a buffet line to feed from. The airport and major docks were chaotic and dangerous. The crowds were turning riotous, and with that many people gathered together in one place, the chances of the infection spreading even more wildly were through the roof. 

“They’re doing the right thing,” Malia said quietly. “They have to keep this from getting to the mainland.”

“What if it already has?” Kono asked. “And where the hell does that leave us?”

“Let’s take it one thing at a time,” Steve said firmly. “We get to headquarters and see what’s going on there and then we call Danny and make sure that he and Grace and Rachel are okay. Agreed?”

Both women nodded.

The first thing they saw when they pulled in to their destination was two men fighting in the parking lot. Steve didn’t bother with a parking spot, coming to a full stop and leaping out of the vehicle. He knew Kono was less than half a step behind him. He heard a third door shut and knew that Malia had joined them as well and he made a mental note to get her a gun. Nobody should be unarmed. 

“5-0!” he yelled as they neared the fighting men. “Hands up and step away from each other!”

The command fell on deaf ears. The man on top just dove in and bit his opponent, teeth sinking into his neck. The sound was loud and disturbing as blood sprayed out, staining the ground. 

“HEY!” Kono barked.

That got everyone’s attention. The man on top lifted his head to look at her, and it was obvious to everyone that he was well beyond infected. Without any hesitation, Kono pulled her trigger. Her hands were steady and her aim good; the bullet hit him right in the middle of the forehead, sending him to the ground. 

For a few seconds, everyone just breathed, trying to get a handle on what had just happened. Then the man on the ground, still bleeding from his neck wound, started to get to his feet. Kono and Steve’s attention immediately focused on him.

“Stop!” Steve yelled. 

The guy did, one hand pressed against his neck while the other went into the air to show that he was unarmed.

“Is there a cure, Malia?” Steve asked, never taking his eyes off of him.

“What?”

“A cure. Is there any way to reverse this thing, or stop it?

“We don’t know anything about it,” she admitted. She took a stuttering breath. “But I think...I think once you get infected, you’re already dead. I’ve seen them get shot and stabbed and they just keep coming. They don’t even bleed right. The only thing I do know is that...I haven’t seen a single person bit that doesn’t turn. And once they turn...”

She didn’t have to finish that thought. All three of them had seen it. Kono’s eyes slid over so that she could glance at Steve, needing him to make the call on this one. It would dictate how they dealt with every person they encountered who had been bitten or infected and for some reason, she needed it to be his decision. He was her boss, her mentor.

The injured man was still standing there, fear growing in his eyes. “Hey, please, just -”

Steve pulled the trigger and dropped him. 

What he had just done sickened a part of him, but they couldn’t risk it. They were dealing with an unknown infection that spread through bites and turned the infected into a violent machine that could only be taken down by a shot to the head. His options were limited, and he had to keep his people safe. 

“Let’s go in,” he said.

He couldn’t look at either Kono or Malia. Even if he was okay with his decision, that didn’t mean that they would be. They followed him without question though, and he hoped that that was a good sign. 

Steve had expected a melee inside from the terror of the phone call he had received. The damage had already been done by the time they got there, though. Shattered glass peppered the hallways and broken equipment lay everywhere. There was blood, too. He recognized arterial spray along one wall and there were puddles on the floor that they had to step around. There was blood on broken glass, on tables, and bloody handprints and footprints dotted the hallway. 

The building was silent.

Nearly silent. The sound of a chair being kicked over made them all turn, and Steve and Kono moved as one toward the noise, their guns raised, Malia behind him. The sounds of struggling grew louder as they followed them and eventually they found themselves in the room with all of 5-0’s computer equipment. The place their team usually used to go over evidence and case files was now bloodied and broken, and Steve doubted if it would ever be used by them again. 

They all stopped when they saw who was in the room, but it was Malia who gasped.

“Chin,” she whispered brokenly.

The infected that they’d been seeing lately hadn’t been part of the first wave of the disease. Chin had been bitten hours ago by the woman brought in for interrogation and it was obvious that he was farther along. Whole chunks of his skin were missing and his eyes had gone completely red. And he had been feeding, too. Blood stained the skin around his mouth and it caked the tips of his fingers.

“Oh God,” Kono breathed.

He wasn’t alone. Chin had let go of his prey when the other members of his team had walked in, and now Governor Denning was sagging against the far wall, his knees giving as he slid down to the floor. Blood was flowing freely from his forearm, but he made no move to stop it. 

Chin didn’t charge at them, which surprised everyone. He seemed to be watching them, gaze moving around to each person as though he were weighing his options. Steve suddenly wondered if a more primal intelligence came with prolonged infection, or if it was just because Chin had always been a calm and calculating man. 

Kono had her weapon pointed at her cousin, but her voice trembled and a tear slid down her cheek. “Do you think he recognizes us?”

The hope in her voice was like a punch to his gut. 

“You know he doesn’t, Kono,” he said gently. “You know it.”

There were quiet sobs behind them from Malia, but Steve kept all of his focus on Chin and Kono. He knew that his rookie was strong, but this was just asking too much of her - of anyone. She kept staring at her cousin, her heart breaking in her eyes and then her hands started to shake. 

“I’m so sorry,” she cried.

Steve stepped over to her, one hand reaching out to push her gun down gently.

“Steve,” she whispered.

“It’s okay,” he soothed. “It’s okay. I’ve got it.”

He made her take two steps to her right and then aimed his gun at Chin’s forehead. The man who had once been the solid rock of their team followed him with his eyes as though suddenly realizing that Steve was his only real threat. Steve saw the muscles beneath his grey skin ripple just before he started to charge at him.

He had just enough time to pull the trigger. 

There was no light that went out of Chin’s eyes. His body simply hit the floor, sounding like a bag of wet sand being dropped. Steve stared at him, emotions and instinct warring inside of him. His training won out, though, and he his gaze and weapon slid simultaneously to the governor, still sitting against the wall.

Denning’s eyes met Steve’s, a sad knowing flooding through them.

“McGarrett.”

Steve’s voice sounded strangled in his own ears. “Governor.”

“Let’s not pussyfoot around with this, Commander. We both know you don’t have a choice. I’ve seen how quickly this thing spreads and I do not intend on becoming like that.” He looked pointedly at Chin. “So please. Make it quick and get out of here.”

Steve didn’t lower his weapon. “I could leave you a gun, sir. Let you handle it yourself.”

Denning gave him a small smile. “I’m not willing to take that kind of risk. I may not always agree with your methods, but I respect you, McGarrett. No shame in letting you end this.”

He nodded. If Steve were in the governor’s position, his thinking would be the same. “Anything you need to tell us first? About the quarantine, federal aid...”

Denning shook his head and looked down at his hands - they were beginning to shake. “There’s no help coming. The hospitals were overrun before we even knew what was going on and then it was in my office. I barely got out. Thought if I could get to you...your team knows how to pull miracles out of thin air. I thought...I guess I thought you could save the day again.” A hollow laugh escape him. “They won’t let anyone leave the island. They assembled troops at the airports and the docs...the Coast Guard and Navy are patrolling...all with orders to shoot anyone who tries to get out. But we’ve got no way to test for this thing, McGarrett. We don’t even know what it is. I can’t make the guarantee that someone hasn’t already made it to the mainland. Hell - we don’t even know if this thing started here.” He paused. “You need to get your people and you need to keep yourselves safe. That’s all you can do.” Denning raised his hands, the shake noticeably more pronounced. “We need to take care of this. Now.”

Steve nodded, steadying his aim. “It’s been an honor, sir.”

“Same to you, Commander.”

The sound of the shot seemed to echo through the room and then it was just the three of them. Steve lowered his gun slowly, swallowing down the emotions that threatened to overtake him. He turned to look at his companions; both women had tears running down their faces, but they were holding it together. He didn’t think either was going to shut down on him.

“Alright,” he said, his voice gruff. He wished he had time to say something for the two men he had just put down, but there weren’t any words that made sense. They had to move forward or they could be dead next. “We need to find Danny -”

"You do not need to find Danny. Danny is right here."

The three of them whipped around to see Danny striding into the room, Grace in one arm and his gun in his free hand. They expected to see Rachel right behind him, but Steve's mouth dropped open when he saw who it was.

"Mer?"

She didn't say a word. She just jogged past Danny and threw herself into Steve's arms. He was still shocked that she was there but his arms went around her automatically and he hugged her tightly.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to surprise you," she cried into his chest. "What the hell is wrong with everybody?"

He didn't answer her question. Instead, his eyes searched out Danny's and he mouthed one word.

"Rachel?"

Danny just shook his head. Steve's heart clenched at the look in his best friend's eyes; they had all lost people today and he didn't think that things were going to get better any time soon. 

"We can swap stories later," Kono said, wiping her face. She was pulling herself together, taking a deep breath as she turned her back on her cousin. "For now I think we need to get out of here."

"Roads are out of the question," Danny said. "We barely got here in one piece. Between the traffic and the accidents and blood-thirsty zombies out there, cars are more of a liability."

"Where are we going?" Mary asked. "It'll be hell trying to catch a flight out..."

Steve shook his head. "The governor explained things before...before the infection got him. Troops are stationed at airports and docks with orders to shoot to kill. They're trying to contain this thing and that means nobody gets off the island."

"Staying here and getting eaten is a crappy plan, Steve," Mary pointed out. 

"We need to get away from people," Kono said. 

"Uh, sweetheart," Danny pointed out, "we're on an island. Not the easiest thing to do."

"What about one of the parks?" she asked. "Isolated. These things seem to be hunting down meat, which means they're gonna stay in the urbanized areas. At least for awhile."

"Awhile? And then what?"

"There's a lot of ground in He'eia," Steve said. "And caves. I'd say we've got a shot out there." He took a deep breath. "Kono, you and Mary go for the weapons locker and grab whatever looks good. Remember lots of ammo. Danny, take Grace and hit the locker rooms. Grab all of our go bags. Malia, you come with me. Everybody meet at my truck in ten minutes."

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Getting to He'eia was no easy task, but Steve had a mission, and he always did best when he had a mission. They stayed away from the major roads, preferring to cut across fields and backyards. The infected that they encountered were individuals or small groups, and Steve and Kono took them down without hesitation with head shots. There were close calls - like when one zombie came flying off a roof and crashed into Mary - but there were no bites, no scratches, and everyone's skin stayed the right color. 

Their plan fell apart half a mile into the park.

Steve had no idea where they all came from, but suddenly they were surrounded. Some wore matching outfits and he realized that there must have been a group trip that got attacked. Herding his sister and Malia into the middle, he yelled for Kono to take lead while he protected their six. Danny seemed to struggle for a minute and then passed Grace to Malia before dropping back to join Steve.

"I'm more use to her with my gun right now," was all he said. 

Steve kept looking for defensible positions, but they just weren't far enough into the park. They needed some place with a narrowed opening - a place where they could control the flow of things attacking them. One place came to mind and his head whipped around before he internally smiled. Kono was already leading them towards it. 

The waterfall was gorgeous, but there was no one in a position to enjoy it; Steve wondered how long it would be before people could come visit it again. Kono led them down to the water’s edge and then up onto the rocks, her footing careful and steady.

“What the hell?” Danny asked.

“Cave,” Steve answered. “We can’t keep running. These things don’t seem to tire out.”

Malia had to set Grace down as they moved out onto the wet rocks and the little girl looked up at her father.

“Danno, can I have your hand?”

Steve nodded at him. “I’ll cover us.”

It was a tense journey and he worried that it was taking them too long. The zombies chasing them couldn’t seem to manage the footing though and they started to put some distance between them. One by one his friends disappeared into the cave behind the waterfall and then Steve was backing into it, gun trained on the entrance.

“Everybody okay?” he asked.

“How long do you think we can hold them off?” Danny asked, his voice low as he stepped away from Grace and the others.

Steve shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Danny nodded. “Look...I know you probably don’t want to talk about this, but I’m throwing it out there. One of those things bites me and you put me down, okay? And then you do whatever you gotta do to take care of Gracie. You hear me, McGarrett? I don’t want there to be any misunderstanding on this one.”

He paused - there was no way in hell he was letting one of these things get Danny. He’d die first. He’d die for any of them.

“As long as that deal goes both ways.”

Danny nodded. “Agreed. Friends don’t let friends become flesh-eating monsters.”

Steve couldn’t help but laugh a little at that. He chanced a quick look over his shoulder and saw that Kono was moving along the back wall of the cave. She was so far away that he could barely see her in the gloom.

“Kono?”

“My auntie used to tell me stories,” she said quietly, hands running over the stone. “They were legends, really. About other worlds. And bridges to get to them.”

He didn’t understand where she was going with this. “Kono -”

“We can’t stay here. Not for the long term.”

She paused, her fingers circling something on the wall. Looking at Steve for just a moment, she then turned back and pressed the heel of her hand against the stone.

And then it moved. 

For a moment they all just stared in disbelief. Then the moans outside got louder and closer and they didn’t have time for any questions.

“Go,” Steve ordered.

Nobody argued. All six of them just took their bags and squeezed through the crack that had suddenly appeared in the seemingly solid wall. Once Steve was through, Kono was already pressing a corresponding switch on the other side and the crack started to disappear.

Gasps echoed in the chamber as they all turned around.

“What the hell is that?” Danny asked.

It was a large silver ring made out of some kind of metal that Steve couldn’t identify. There were several chevrons adorning it and a small ramp seemed to lead straight into the empty space. Next to the ram was a pedestal atop which sat an array of strange symbols and an orange orb in the center. 

“Kono?”

She shook her head. “I’m not sure. I guess Auntie’s stories were real.” She walked over to the pedestal, hand hovering over the symbols. “There were codes,” she murmured. “Codes that would take you to other places.”

“Do you happen to know any of these codes?” Danny asked. “Because that would be very helpful right now.”

“She never told us what they were. But...” Her hand moved to the bracelet she had worn every since her Auntie passed away. “It couldn’t be.”

Pulling the bracelet off, she flipped it over and stared at the symbols she had never understood. Each one had a twin on the pedestal.

Moans sounded from even closer and there was the sound of someone scrabbling up the rock of the waterfall. 

“We’re running out of options,” Mary warned them. 

Steve came up to stand beside Kono. “Either we take our chances with this or we face what’s out there.”

She nodded without looking up at him. And then she reached out and started pressing the symbols. The rest of them watched as the chevrons lit up and an inner ring displaying the symbols rotated. It was like it was dialing a number that no one understood. When the last symbol was inputted, a cloud of blue shot out towards them and then pulled back in, leaving the open part of the ring to look like a wall of ocean. The light from it reflected against the walls of the cave, bathing them in beautiful hues. 

“Whatever is through there has got to be better than here,” Steve said quietly.

“Really?” Danny asked. “You just had to go and say that? You do realize that now you have effectively jinxed us, correct?”

“Sorry, Danno. You can blame me if things go horribly awry over there, okay?”

“Trust me, babe. Was already planning on it.”

“Danno, I’m scared,” Grace said, looking up at her father.

Danny knelt down and took her face in his hands. “I know you are, Monkey. But we’re all gonna be with you, okay? We can’t stay here.”

She swallowed roughly and nodded. Danny kissed her forehead and then lifted her up. Whatever they met on the other side, he wanted his daughter in his arms. Steve and Kono stepped up onto the ramp, guns out in front of them.

“You guys ready?” Steve asked.

No one answered. But one by one, they followed him into the blue.


	2. Chapter 2

John tried not to sigh again. He honestly had no idea what Rodney was going on about now and he couldn’t have cared less. He figured that if it was really important, Teyla would have forced him to pay attention by now. The sudden urge to turn around and snap at his friend for babbling came on so strong that his muscles were already moving before he could put a stop to it. Tightening his grip on his gun and forcing out a breath through clenched teeth, he focused on the path ahead and kept moving.

He knew he wasn’t okay. He might have been incredibly adept at burying his feelings, but he _knew_ that he wasn’t okay and he knew _why_. That didn’t mean that he was going to talk about it anytime soon, but it did mean that he needed to not take it out on Rodney.

Of course, if some bastards with guns wanted to show up and start a firefight, he wouldn’t object to taking it out on _them_.

Another five minutes of walking and the forest around them suddenly ended, dumping them out in a field that held the planet’s Stargate and nothing else. It wasn’t unusual for villages to set themselves up a little way away from the Gate...if the Wraith or some enemy came pouring through, it was nice to have a little distance and time to prepare yourself. 

“Oh thank God,” Rodney breathed. “Can someone please explain to me why we keep taking these pointless trips to insignificant villages that couldn’t help us if all we needed was a decent meal, nevermind -”

John turned to let out a scathing retort - there was only so much a man could take, dammit - when the Gate activated. The four of them stopped and stared for a moment and then John was motioning them back towards the tree line. He and Ronon each ducked behind a large tree, weapons read and eyes locked on the Gate. If Wraith darts came flying through, there wasn’t going to be much that they could do for the villagers; they hadn’t even brought a Puddlejumper with them.

No Wraith came through, though. Instead, John found himself watching as six humans came out of the blue. A man and a woman led them, each with guns raised. Two women followed behind them and the rear was brought up by a short man carrying a young girl. They were an odd group, but for the moment, John was more interested in their weapons.

“Those are Glocks,” he muttered.

Ronon raised an eyebrow at him. “Huh?”

“Their guns. They’re...well, they’re what we use. They’re Earth weapons.”

“You think they came from Earth?” Teyla questioned.

“That’s absurd!” Rodney interjected. “No way would the SGC let random people through...”

John stepped out from behind the tree, hands raised. “I think I’ll just ask them.”

It might not have been his smartest move ever, but he was almost itching for something, _anything_ , to happen. Besides, he knew that Ronon and Teyla were right behind him, guns still at the ready. 

Before he was even fully past the treeline, the pair in front had stopped and swung their guns in his direction. Whoever they were, they were trained well. John just made sure to keep his hands up high and his movements small.

"Hi, there," he greeted them. "Don't worry...we don't plan on shooting you. Well, unless you shoot us first. We tend to get a little cranky about that."

He could hear Rodney spluttering behind him, and for some reason, that made him feel better than he had in a couple of days.

"Who are you?" the man in front demanded, his gun steady.

"Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard."

His eyes narrowed. "What branch?"

John stopped walking. "Air Force. How about a little quid pro quo?"

He didn't lower his weapon, but some of the tension in his shoulders eased just a little. "Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett. Navy SEAL."

That put him firmly in the 'Earth' category, despite the fact that it didn't make sense. John gestured to their weapons.

"Any chance we could put the guns away? I was serious about the not shooting thing."

McGarrett shared a look with the woman beside him and then they both lowered their guns slowly. John turned to yell over his shoulder.

"Come on out, guys! And no weapons!"

Ronon and Teyla came out slowly, followed by Rodney, who was muttering incessantly. John decided he probably didn't want to hear what he was saying and turned back to the newcomers. 

"So...I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you guys are from Earth?"

The man in the back started gesturing with his free hand. "I'm tempted to ask where else we could be from, but I'm afraid I might not like the answer."

"Oh there are a ton of places you could be from. But most of those places don't have Glocks."

"Lovely," he replied. "I don't suppose there's any chance we're actually still _on_ Earth, is there?"

Rodney scoffed. "Of course not. That's a ridiculous question."

The man opened his mouth to reply and John figured it was best not to let these two start in on each other. At least not until they got introduced. He held up a hand to stave them off.

"No, you're not on Earth anymore. You're in the Pegasus Galaxy, which is...a long way from home. We can explain more later, after we get you back to Atlantis."

"I'm sorry. Excuse me? Back to where?"

"Atlantis. It's..." John waved a hand dismissively. "It's a long story. But unless you want to figure out how to survive out here on your own, you probably want to come with us. I promise none of our people will shoot you." He paused. "Again, as long as you don't shoot them first."

Teyla took another step forward. "I know you must be confused, but Colonel Sheppard speaks the truth. We are friends and we only wish to help you."

McGarrett thought for a minute, this time sharing a look with the man in the back of the group. John got the sense that a lot was being said without words. When McGarrett turned back, he gestured to the woman beside him.

"Kono." He pointed behind him. "Malia. Mary-Ann. That's Danny in the back with his daughter, Grace."

John nodded, appreciating the gesture. "Teyla. Rodney. And this big guy here is Ronon. Welcome to Pegasus." He pointed at the Gate. "C'mon...the sooner we get back to Atlantis, the sooner we can share stories. And I've got a feeling yours is a bit of a doozy."

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Danny wasn’t sure what he was expecting when they stepped back through that thing - a Stargate, Sheppard had called it - but his first look at the city of Atlantis was almost indescribable. The main room that they found themselves in was large and full of gadgets and gizmos that he was sure even Kono wouldn’t understand. His eyes traveled up the large central staircase up to what looked like a command center, and then over to a glass-walled office to the left. He noticed that Sheppard’s gaze moved in that direction as well, but he seemed to flinch and turn away just as quickly.

There were people there, too. Sitting in front of laptops and large screens, walking down hallways that led deeper into the city, as well as armed soldiers facing them with wary looks on their faces. Danny’s grip on his daughter tightened, but at the sight of Sheppard the soldiers seemed to relax a bit. The two directly in front of them stepped away slightly and a woman came forward, blond hair pinned up. She wore black slacks and a blue shirt, and there was a small smile on her face. 

“Visitors?” she asked, turning towards Sheppard. 

Danny did a double-take at the British accent.

He shrugged. “I thought you could use some company.”

“Always so thoughtful. Seriously, though...what’s going on?”

“They popped out of a Gate...and they’re from Earth.”

The woman frowned. “The SGC...”

“I know.”

She took a deep breath. “Well, then. I’m guessing that there are interesting stories to be told on both sides.” She gave them a broader smile. “I’m Gabrielle Marcotte. Welcome to Atlantis.”

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Swapping stories took a long time. John would have been satisfied with just giving the highlights of how they came to Atlantis, but Rodney kept interjecting with lengthy explanations and technical jargon that only he understood. They had never really had to tell their story to people who didn’t already have some kind of background with Stargate Command - the non-disclosure agreements they had all signed had been _massive_ \- and John suddenly realized just how crazy it must have sounded to this new group. They had been through a Stargate twice now, though, so he imagined that they would eventually accept it all. 

The story they received in return though...John couldn't quite wrap his head around that. It was clear that it wasn't some kind of joke; there was a pain and heaviness in everyone's eyes - even the little girl's - that John knew was completely real. But a virus that spread through bites? People who could be shot in the heart and keep coming? Head shots being the only way to take them out? It was too much.

"You expect us to believe that zombies have taken over the world?" Rodney scoffed. "Please! Aside from the fact that no such virus exists, the odds of it spreading so quickly..."

"Actually, Rodney," Carson interrupted, "it's not that far-fetched."

"Oh come on! This is straight out of a hundred crappy sci-fi movies!"

John shrugged. "The same could be said about the things we've seen here on Atlantis. Hell, the same could be said about the fact that we traveled here at all! It all sounds crazy in the beginning."

"And there's so much about viruses that we don't understand," Carson continued. "Not to mention the fact that since the Stargate program began, there have been hundreds of missions to hundreds of planets! Who knows what's been brought back?"

"Yeah, but -"

"Whether you believe us or not is irrelevant," Danny cut in. "It happened the way we told you. And considering we all lost some pretty important people in our lives, I don't think it's asking too much for a little respect!"

John had to admit that the loud-mouthed detective had a point. 

"Might I suggest that we put in a call to Stargate Command?" Gabby asked, effectively cutting off whatever Rodney had been going to say next. "It seems like the logical step. And this virus, whether it's been contained to the island or not, seems like something they should be made aware of."

"And that," John said, getting to his feet, "is why we keep you around, Marcotte."

"Please. You keep me around because otherwise you or Rodney would have burned the city to the ground by now. I certainly can't leave you children unattended."

John rolled his eyes, but didn't reply. Instead, he led the group out of the conference room. "Hey, Chuck. Dial Earth for me, would you?"

"Of course, sir."

John could feel everyone gathering behind him and it made him slightly nervous. Sam was supposed to be leading Atlantis and taking care of this kind of stuff, but she had gone back to Earth for meetings earlier in the week, which meant that he was in charge. He tried not to fidget, doing his best to ignore the itch between his shoulder blades. He felt someone come up to stand beside him and he glanced over to find Gabby standing there, silently lending her support.

As Chuck dialed Earth and they waited for a response, John found himself looking more closely at the small British woman. She had been with them in Atlantis from the beginning as an assistant of sorts to Elizabeth. It became clear quickly, though, that she was much more than that. A jack-of-all-trades, she managed to keep abreast of absolutely everything going on in the city. Elizabeth had confided to him once that it was because of Gabby that things like supplies and rotating shifts went as smoothly as they did. The woman had an impeccable eye for detail. 

The two women had been close friends as well. John remembered the pain in Gabby’s eyes when they came back from the Replicator planet without Elizabeth. He had almost expected her to blame him for that, but instead she had shifted her support to him, making sure that he always had someone watching his back, personally and politically. She was a damn formidable opponent, too, as certain members of the SGC and IOA had discovered. 

As though she could hear him thinking about her, Gabby turned to raise an eyebrow at him. It wasn’t the same one Elizabeth had always given him, but it was enough to shake him out of his thoughts. 

Which made him frown.

“Chuck, what’s taking so long?”

The other man shook his head. “I’m not sure, Colonel. I’m not getting an answer. There’s something strange, though...”

“Oh, just let me see it,” Rodney said impatiently, pushing people aside to peer at the computer. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“What doesn’t?” John asked.

“This!” Rodney replied, gesturing at the computer. It’s like there’s a signal or something there instead of Stargate Command.” He frowned, typing in a few things and then standing back up. “And it’s asking for your access code.”

John shared a sideways glance with Gabby, who just gave him a small shrug. They didn’t really have any other options, so he leaned forward and typed his code into the computer. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but he was fairly certain it wasn’t General O’Neill’s face on the screen. The older man was bruised and bloodied, but his eyes were completely focused. 

“Sheppard, it’s O’Neill. I’m not sure how to say this, but we’ve been overrun. Not just Stargate Command - this thing is everywhere. We just got a call that Washington fell a couple of hours ago. I’m sure McKay’s going to get a laugh out of this, but I don’t know what else to call these things. They’re angry, they like to bite people, and they look pretty dead to me, so I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that we’ve got zombies.” There was some kind of commotion behind him and they could hear guns being fired somewhere off-screen. “Look, we can’t hold ‘em off. Head shots and beheading seem to be the only way to kill ‘em. Maybe if we had been able to get organized earlier on...Hell, the damn president was one of the first ones infected. There’s nothing we can do except try to survive. By the time you get this...well, we’ll either be dead or in hiding. I’m really hoping it’s the latter. Either way, you guys are on your own now. We’re shutting down the Stargate as a precaution. These things don’t seem to have the brain capacity to work anything more complicated than a doorknob, but we’d rather be sure that they’re not going to find their way into another galaxy. So...good luck, Sheppard. Just keep taking care of your people. And hey - I’m sorry. Honestly, I’d rather be out there with you right now, but Sam’s been making a lot of noise about not abandoning ship. And you know how much good it does to say no to the woman.” There were more gunshots and John could see Sam enter the frame, her gun aimed somewhere out of view. “I’m serious, John. Take care of your people. Earth is no longer an option. Good luck. O’Neill out.”

The video cut out to static, and for a long time, no one said anything. The shock in the room was palpable; John felt like they had just fallen into a bad Romero flick. There was a small sniffle behind him and he suddenly remembered Danny's little girl. The man murmured quiet reassurances to her, though John couldn't quite make out what he was saying. Not that it mattered. She had just been ripped from her home, and now it looked like she wasn't ever going to get back. None of them were.

"That doesn't make any sense," Rodney finally said. "A virus doesn't spread that quickly. How could it have hit Hawaii this morning and already knock out Washington? That's impossible!"

"You're making assumptions, Rodney," Carson said quietly. "Yes, we know that the virus hit Hawaii this morning, but that wasn't necessarily the only place it hit. Perhaps it had a longer incubation period in the beginning and people got on planes going all over the world. Our society is a perfect place for infection to breed."

"But how did it even evolve?" McKay pressed. "Where did it start? How -"

"What's a zombie?" Ronon interrupted, referencing General O'Neill's explanation. 

"A scary monster," Grace said, her voice hushed. "Mommy wouldn't let me watch the movies about them."

"That is because movies like those give little girls nightmares," Danny said. 

"Zombies aren't real!" Rodney burst out.

"It looks as though they are now," Gabby said calmly. She turned to Ronon. "We believed that they were simply a fictional villain. Something created to scare people in stories. In most stories, there is a virus. It turns normal people into mindless killing machines. It's spread through bites. Unfortunately, everything we know about them, we know from movies and books...which means we really don't know anything at all. Most stories agree that the only way to kill them is to shoot them in the head or remove the head from the body entirely." Her eyes lingered on the newcomers. "There is no cure, as far as I know."

Her words quieted the room once again. John wondered if there was anything he could say to lift their spirits, to give them a sense that maybe the situation wasn't as hopeless as it seemed. His eyes met McGarrett's, though, and he saw what he already knew reflected there.

"Doesn't really matter at this point," he said. "We're on our own now."

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Gabby made sure to give the newcomers rooms that were as close as possible to each other. While logistical conversations were being had with Sheppard, she had located one of the double rooms in Atlantis - obviously for those first inhabitants with families - and decided that Detective Williams and his daughter would be settled there. She put McGarrett and Kono in rooms on either side, with Malia’s and Mary's rooms being right across the hall. Everyone was within easy reach of everyone else, and she was hoping that they would feel safer that way.

Once everything had been settled, Gabby went back up to the conference room and waited for John to finish. He was trying to give them an overview of the city, but administrative things weren't his style, and she could tell that he was floundering a bit. Stepping into the room, she decided it might be best for everyone if she just rescued him now. 

"I think that's enough for tonight, don't you, Colonel?" she asked.

John looked relieved as he nodded. "Yeah. We can cover other stuff as it comes up." He cleared his throat. "Any questions, you should probably go to Gabby. She's pretty much the expert on the day-to-day stuff."

McGarrett was the first to stand, reaching out to shake John's hand. "Thanks, Sheppard."

John nodded. "No problem."

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Danny's mind was still struggling to catch up with everything that was going on. He hadn't even really had time to digest zombies before they were traveling through that gate and now they had landed in freaking _Atlantis_. Not only was the place real, but it was in another _galaxy_ and now they had managed to get themselves stranded here with a bunch of strangers. 

Grace hadn't let go of him once since he'd carried her through the gate. She hadn't said much, either. He was worried about her. If he was having trouble handling all of this, he could hardly imagine how scared _she_ was. His little girl was tough, but this was too much to put an adult through, never mind an eight-year-old. She had lost her mother and her home all in one day. Danny didn't know if she needed to cry or sleep more, but at the moment he just wanted to get her to a quiet place so that they could figure that out. 

The rest of his ohana was strong, but he could see the cracks in the facade. Malia hadn't really spoken since they'd left headquarters, and Mary had fallen silent as well. Kono had her badass face on, but her eyes were tired and haunted. Steve seemed to be doing the best out of all of them; Danny suspected that was due to his SEAL training. Steve knew how to adapt to new situations and keep on rolling. That didn't mean that things weren't taking a toll on him internally, but he could pretend that everything was just fine and have most people fooled. Most people. 

As they rounded another corner - Danny was fairly certain that if he tried to find his own way back to the control room, he would just get hopelessly lost - he found his gaze settling on the woman that was guiding them. The British accent had thrown him off, forcing his mind to replay his last encounter with Rachel. Aside from that one commonality, though, it didn't seem as though the two women were alike. Gabby walked with an air of authority, her strides long despite the fact that she was just as short as he was. And the smirks she had thrown at Sheppard were more smug than prim.

One more corner and it seemed that they had reached their destination. The hallway opened up into a sort of gathering area; there were a couple of comfortable-looking chairs and a couch set in a loose circle. Gabby stopped at one of the doors leading off of the central area and waved her hand in front of a blue sensor. The door slid open, revealing a bedroom on the other side.

"Detective Williams," she said, turning around to face them, "this will be your room. There's a smaller room attached to it for your daughter." She gestured to the other doors. "Commander McGarrett and Officer Kalakaua, you have the rooms on either side. Doctor Waincroft, Ms. McGarrett, your rooms are right there across the hall." She clasped her hands in front of her. "I've had some dinner brought up from the mess hall. It's in Detective Williams' room. I figured you might be hungry and need some time and space to deal with everything that's happened today. I've also left five headsets on the bed. If you need anything, just tap them and say my name. You'll be connected directly to me. Please don't hesitate if you need something, alright?"

Steve nodded. “Thank you. For everything.”

She gave them a small smile. “It’s no problem. You’ve had an incredibly difficult time, and I know that it’s going to take awhile for you to get acclimated to Atlantis. But please know that you truly are welcome here. You’re among friends, and we’ll do everything we can to take care of you.” She moved to step forward but then stopped, holding up a finger. “That reminds me. I know that you have bags with you, but I can’t imagine you fit too many clothes in there. I had extras of just about everything placed in your respective rooms. I also have a few people blessed with seamstress skills altering clothing that will fit Grace. I’ll bring them to you when they’re ready.” Her eyes somehow softened even more. “Goodnight. I wish you all a dreamless sleep.”

With that, she gave them a small nod and walked away, leaving them alone for the first time since running into Sheppard and his team. They all stood there in silence for a minute and then Kono slid her hands into her back pockets and shrugged.

“Food sounds really good right now.”

That seemed to break the ice, and there were a few quiet chuckles all around. Steve led them into the room Gabby had opened for them, eyes widening at the large platter she had left for them on bureau. There were more than enough sandwiches for all of them to have at least two, as well as a plate full of fruit. Or what looked like fruit. He imagined it was all local, which was why none of it really looked familiar. There was also a pot of something that smelled an awful lot like coffee and a whole case of bottled water.

“You hungry, Monkey?” Danny asked Grace quietly.

She lifted her head and nodded. “My tummy’s been making noises.”

“I can hear that. So let’s get you a sandwich, okay?”

Talking could wait. 

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Danny stared at his daughter. She had fallen asleep soon after eating, wearing one of his t-shirts and crawling under the covers. He wasn’t surprised that she chose to sleep in his bed for now. It might be awhile before either of them was ready to sleep alone. 

The rest of them had started talking once she dozed off, but it didn’t really get them anywhere. Everyone was starting to shut down from the day’s events, and they all looked more than a little dazed. On top of that, it wasn’t like they had many choices available to them. Going back home wasn’t an option. For the time being, they had a safe place to stay, a roof over their heads, and food. It was more than they would have had hiding out in the state forest. Despite his tendency to complain about everything, Danny was just going to count his blessings for the moment. He had his daughter, he had his ohana, and everything else could be figured out later.

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It might have been cliche to say it, but time passed, just like it always did. Slowly, the new people settled into life on Atlantis, taking on their own roles within the small community. Malia joined Carson in the infirmary, grateful to have something to do to keep her mind and her hands busy. Carson was thrilled to have the help, and he found her smile to be radiant the few times he could actually coax it out of her. Mary found her own niche too, working in the kitchens. It came as a surprise to her brother Steve, but while she was in L.A., she had worked at a few restaurants and had garnered a reputation as a pretty good cook and an even better baker. The ingredients on Atlantis weren’t always the same, but she made do, and there was a little more variety to the dishes once she joined the cooking crew.

It wasn’t surprising at all that Sheppard eventually let McGarrett lead his own team off-world. He had watched the Navy SEAL for a long time, checking up on his proficiency in weapons and hand-to-hand combat. To say that the man was damn good was an understatement. He’d sparred with him himself a few times, and John could admit that he’d gotten his ass kicked. Ronon had fared much better, and watching the two of them go at it was a source of enjoyment in his day. 

John knew that Steve was itching to get out of the city and actually _do_ something. It had been two months since they’d arrived and McGarrett didn’t seem like the type of guy to be okay with just sitting around. There was a quiet intensity to him, and John got the feeling that he was almost vibrating under the surface, just waiting for something to happen. It was a feeling he knew all too well. 

He also saw the way McGarrett’s eyes lit up when he told him that he’d be sending him off-world with Williams, Kalakaua, Zelenka, and a couple of Marines. A part of him was slightly worried; he sensed that Steve had a penchant for getting into trouble just like John did. But he knew that he could trust the man. 

And that was enough for him. 

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There was a quiet knock on her office door, and Gabby looked up to see Danny standing there, hands in his pockets as he hovered at the threshold. She gave him a smile and waved him in.

“Something I can do for you, Daniel?” she asked.

“There’s no chance I’m gonna get you to call me ‘Danny,’ is there?” he asked, his own smile mirroring hers.

“Would you prefer that I used ‘Danno’ like Steven does?”

Danny held up a hand. “No. No. Daniel is fine. And at least when you say it, it doesn’t sound like you’re talking down to me.” He gave a small shrug. “My ex-wife had a tendency to do that,” he added quietly. 

Gabby’s smile faded. “How is Grace doing?”

He took a deep breath. “Pretty good. Some days are better than others, as I’m sure you’ve seen.” Grace was a very well-behaved child, but Gabby had been around during some of the emotional stages while the little girl dealt with the absence of her mother. “She, uh...she’s actually the reason I’m here.”

“Okay...”

“As you probably know, since you seem to know everything that goes on in this ridiculous city, we’re going off-world tomorrow.”

“Ah, yes. Colonel Sheppard is finally letting Steven off the leash, so to speak.”

“Exactly. Not the smartest move in my book, but hey, not my call. And besides, if we run into some of those Wraith things you guys told us about, I’m sure SuperSEAL could do some pretty hefty damage. But,” he said, holding up a finger, “I digress.”

“You usually do.”

“Cheeky,” he grinned. “I like it. Anyway...Grace wanted to know if you would stay with her while I’m gone. It’s only supposed to be a couple of days, and she likes Malia and Mary, but...Well, it seems the two of you have grown close over the past couple of months. I think you make her feel just a little more safe.”

Gabby chuckled. It was true that she and Grace were getting along pretty well. Since coming to the city, the little girl had found herself with copious amounts of time on her hands. There was no school on Atlantis, and Danny was trying to learn the ins and outs of life on Atlantis while getting trained on the weapons that they had and the intricacies of the Pegasus Galaxy. Gabby happily took her under her wing. There was really no part of her job that Grace couldn't tag along for, and it gave Gabby a chance to show her things about the city. Grace _loved_ to learn and was especially excited that there wasn't any homework. She asked a million questions and Gabby did her best to answer all of them that she could. She enjoyed her days spent with Danny's daughter and she was happy to hear that Grace felt the same way.

"Of course," she answered. "I'd love to."

Something that looked suspiciously like a blush spread across his features and he ducked his head slightly. "Thank you. Seriously. Thank you. I'll feel better knowing she's got someone specifically watching out for her, you know?"

"The only thing you need to worry yourself with is coming back safely and in one piece. It's something I have to remind John of on an almost weekly basis."

Danny lowered himself into one of the chairs facing her desk. "What's his story, anyway?"

"What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "I get him for the most part. Believe it or not, there are a lot of similarities between Sheppard and McGarrett. I'm guessing there are serious daddy issues at play here. But there's something else. I've seen him a few times out on one of the balconies - always the same one - and he just...he kind of looks like a kicked puppy."

"Sounds like you're awfully familiar with that look."

"Let's just say my partner has a variety of faces, and that happens to be one of them. It's usually the one he wears when something's eating at him. Usually involving guilt of the heaviest persuasion."

Gabby sighed, staring down at the floor for a moment. Then she walked over to her desk and perched herself on top of it, facing Danny. "This Atlantis expedition has not always been the smoothest of rides," she began slowly. "I'm sure you've noticed."

"I have indeed."

"And you know that a woman named Samantha Carter was in charge, before she got trapped on Earth with the zombie invasion."

"Yeah."

Another deep breath. "Sam wasn't always in charge," she said. "In fact, for the first three years of the expedition, we were led by a different woman. Elizabeth Weir."

"Doesn't sound familiar."

"That's not surprising. Most people try not to talk about her, especially in front of John. For fear of giving rise to the 'kicked puppy' look." Gabby paused. "They were good friends, John and Elizabeth. He started out here as a major without any authority and by the end of the first week here, he was the acting military commander. Due both to extraordinary and tragic events, as well as his own ability to step in when needed and lead in an effective manner. Elizabeth saw early on how good he was at his job and she believed in him, trusted him. John's not exactly one to open up about his feelings, but I wouldn't be surprised if that was the first time in his life someone had really looked at him that way. And he respected her. They were the only two in the city that really understood the strain the other was under. Most of the time, they didn't even need words to communicate. It could be quite amusing on occasion, actually. Different pages from the same book - that's how I always saw them."

"What happened?" Danny asked softly, drawn into the story.

"They went through hell and back with each other. She never abandoned him, always had his back. He saved her life more than once. They were each others' safety net. And then...and then Elizabeth went through hell and didn't come back. Are you familiar with nanites?"

He shook his head. 

"Simply put, they're like tiny little robots. A race called Replicators infected Elizabeth with them. They took over her mind and almost succeeded in convincing her that she was actually back on Earth and in a mental facility and that none of the Stargate program had ever existed. John managed to save her from that and they disabled the nanites. The Replicators were relentless, though, as robotic entities tend to be, and, to make a long and complicated story short, there was an explosion. Elizabeth was nearly killed and the only way to save her life was to reactivate the nanites. She went on a mission with John's team to the Replicator planet to retrieve something and she didn't come back. She sacrificed herself for John and the rest of the team, to ensure their escape, ordering John to leave her behind."

It wasn't difficult for Danny to follow that thread. "And he's never forgiven himself for that."

"Would you?"

"Probably not."

"He tried to find her. He thought he had, once. But apparently it was just another Replicator and they told him that Elizabeth's body had died."

"Do you believe them?"

Gabby hung her head and gave a small shrug. "I don't know. But I do think that John counts every day he doesn't find her to be a failure. He's had to carry a lot since then, but nothing weighs on him like the loss of Elizabeth. She's the one person he promised himself he'd always protect, and in the end, he couldn't save her." She gave him a sad smile. "And that balcony was theirs. It wasn't put into words, so much, but everyone knew it. He'd coax her out of the office when he thought she needed a break and they'd stand out there and talk, or look at the stars."

Danny leaned forward, watching her carefully. "He's not the only one who still misses her."

"No, of course not. Elizabeth and I were friends, actually. I miss her a great deal. So does Teyla and Rodney and Zelenka and Carson. Most of the people in the city held a great deal of respect for Elizabeth, even if they weren't close to her. Losing her...the city doesn't quite feel the same." She cleared her throat. "My, that was a bit maudlin." She looked at her watch. "You should probably think about resting up for tomorrow."

"Food first," he insisted. "And I was hoping you would join us for a late dinner. A little birdie mentioned that you've neglected to make your way down to the mess tonight."

"It's actually quite amazing just how many birdies Atlantis houses. I've never been fond of them."

She was smiling though, and she stood up to stretch some kinks out of her shoulders. "I've never really been a girl to turn down food, though. Lead on."

Danny grinned and walked her out of the office.

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Danny wondered if maybe there was something wrong with him. He hadn’t thought that initiating contact with a new planet would be _the_ most exciting thing he’d done in his life, but he thought that it might at least pique his interest. This was an alien culture, after all. The Kalkkaris, though, didn’t seem so alien. They reminded him of a hundred different villages he’d seen in medieval epic war movies. He didn’t think he’d actually ever say this, but he was almost starting to miss the armed conflicts that Steve was usually so good at getting them into. 

He might have to admit it to himself, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to say anything to Steve. 

Instead, he just bit back a sigh and settled deeper into the uncomfortable chair he’d been offered. If he didn’t keep on top of the conversation, Steve might feel prompted to start speaking. And since tact and negotiation with normal, _civilized_ , non-gun-toting individuals weren’t exactly at the top of his acquired skills set, Danny thought it might be better to avoid that. 

Even if the Kalkkaris were painfully dull.

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The Gate wasn’t supposed to activate. McGarrett and his team weren’t due for another day at least, and they were the only team off-world at the moment. In line with their training, his soldiers formed a half-ring in front of the Gate, prepared for whatever might make its way through.

But nothing came. 

“Chuck?”

The other man shook his head. “It’s not someone trying to come through. I’ve got an audio feed, though.”

“Play it.”

“Colonel Sheppard, this is Ladon Radim. I have information I’m sure you’ll be interested in. No charge, either, which I’m sure will make you even more suspicious. But it’s just me out here. Your people can take my gun while I talk to you. I need you to trust me, Sheppard. For _both_ our sakes.” There was a slight hesitation. “And for the sake of someone I know you care deeply about.”

Ronon and Teyla had come up to stand beside him. 

“He sounds quite urgent,” the Athosian said.

“Who do you think he’s talking about?” Ronon asked.

Sheppard shrugged. “Who knows? With Ladon it could be anything.” He grimaced. “I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

Ronon grunted. “You got tortured for this guy. You don’t owe him anything.”

“I’m not sure the bad feeling is about this,” John said quietly. “Chuck, lower the shield.” He looked at his teammates. “We’re a little short on friends right now. Let’s not alienate Ladon until we know for sure he’s not worth the trouble.”

There was movement at the Gate, and then a single man was walking through. The shield went right back up behind him and he stood there calmly, arms raised to show that he meant no harm. A Marine stepped forward and divested him of his gun, quickly patting him down to make sure that he wasn’t carrying any other weapons. Then he looked up at Sheppard and nodded before stepping back. 

“Ladon,” John greeted.

“Colonel Sheppard. I’m grateful you let me through so quickly. I was honestly expecting more trouble.”

John shrugged. “I figure I’ll just let Ronon shoot you if you make me regret this.”

The man’s eyes flickered over to Satedan for a moment. “That does sound like something you would do.”

“Get up here, Ladon. Let’s here what you have to say.”

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“You’re staying here, right?” Grace asked as Gabby tucked her into her father’s bed. Though the little girl had moved to her own bed a couple of weeks ago, she insisted on sleeping in Danny’s bed while her father was gone. Gabby couldn’t blame her.

“Absolutely,” she reassured her. “And you can wake me up if you need _anything_ okay? Even if it’s a glass of water or because you had a bad dream.”

“Gabby?”

“Yes, darling?”

“Do you talk to God?”

The question startled her, but she recovered quickly. “I do, actually. With the amount of trouble Colonel Sheppard and Dr. McKay manage to get themselves into, I find it quite necessary at times.” She paused, tilting her head slightly to the side. “Do you?”

Grace nodded. “Mommy and I always talked to God before bed.”

Gabby seated herself gently on the side of the bed. “Do you have something you want to talk to God about tonight?”

“Danno? I’d like to ask Him to take care of him. Keep him safe.”

Gabby smiled. “I think that’s a wonderful idea.”

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“You’ve got a problem,” Ladon said as soon as they were all sitting around the conference table.

“We’ve usually got problems,” John shot back. “Care to elaborate.”

“Kolya.”

Everyone in the room froze at the man’s name. John focused on keeping his breathing steady despite the fact that his hands automatically clenched into fists that turned his knuckles white. It didn’t matter that it had been a couple of years since he had last seen Kolya - he would never be able to forget what he had put himself and Elizabeth through. 

“What about him?” he gritted out. He could feel tension coming off of Ronon and Teyla in waves and Lorne looked like he was chiseled out of stone. There was no one in the room who didn’t hate Kolya.

“He’s been making trouble. And I think it’s about to affect you in a big way.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that he has a bounty out on your head, across dozens of planets. And not just you. He wants anyone from your team. Alive. The reward is...tempting.”

“For you?” Ronon all but growled.

Ladon shook his head. “I know Kolya all too well. I wouldn’t lend the man water if he was dying of thirst.” He looked straight at John. “He wants people close to you, Sheppard. He knows how much your team means to you. And he’s more than willing to exploit that. And rumor has it he’s got the resources to attract desperate people.”

“Looks like we’ll just have to be on our guard,” he said. “Well, more than usual, anyway.”

“That’s not all, Sheppard.”

“You’re telling me there’s more bad news?”

“I know why he wants your people.”

John frowned. “You just said it. He wants to hurt me.”

“No, I mean I know why he wants them _specifically._ I know what he plans to do with them.”

“And you couldn’t just spit that out?” Rodney exclaimed. “What are you trying to do? Drag it out for the drama?”

“Quiet, McKay.” John leaned forward. “Tell me.”

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Danny tossed and turned, but the mattress was just too damn uncomfortable. He had slept on a lot of unfortunate surfaces in his life - Steve’s couch being closer to the bottom of the list - but this sorry excuse for a bed was quite possibly one of the worst. No matter how he turned, something was sticking into him, or his hips would be pressed painfully against the wood floor underneath the mattress. How anybody could get a decent night’s sleep this way and then actually get up and go work in a field the next day was beyond him. Eventually, he decided to just get up and stretch his legs. He needed to go to the bathroom anyway. 

Things with the Kalkkaris had been uneventful so far, which he supposed was a good thing. They seemed pretty open to the idea of being friendly with Atlantis, and they were damn good farmers. Being cut off from Earth, the city was going to need more resources for fresh food. All the same, Danny wasn’t looking forward to sitting in those uncomfortable chairs for another day, talking out of his ass. He almost wished Steve would blow something up so he could rant and yell his boredom out on his friend. That wasn’t very fair to the Kalkkaris, though, and Danny supposed he was just going to have to tough it out. Who knew being a space explorer could be so boring?

He ducked into the edge of the woods surrounding the village and quietly relieved himself. If he pushed away the knowledge that he was in another galaxy and just looked into the trees, Danny could almost believe that he was somewhere on the mainland back home. The forest reminded him of the one that surrounded his grandfather’s cabin up in Maine, and for a moment, Danny let a wave of homesickness wash over him. 

He heard a twig snap somewhere to his right and automatically reached for his gun. It was probably just a squirrel, or another guy taking a leak, but he couldn’t be too careful. He might have been on a strange planet in a strange galaxy, but he was a cop and he wasn’t going to let somebody get the drop on him.

The dart came from the opposite direction, burying itself in his neck. Danny had just long enough to register the sting before the darkness closed in and his knees softened, dropping him to the ground.

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“As I’m sure you know,” Ladon explained, “the Wraith and the Replicators have been working hard to put each other out of business. For the most part, humans have been content to sit back and see how that plays out.”

“For the most part?” Ronon asked.

“Though I have no interest in getting involved in their war, it’s unlikely that they’ll simply destroy each other and leave us alone. One of them is going to win, and we are going to have to face that victor. Which is why I thought it prudent to find out whatever I could about both camps.”

“I take it you found something worth sharing?” John prompted.

Ladon shrugged. “I haven’t heard back from my man checking on the Replicators. But the Wraith aren’t just focusing on overwhelming their enemies by physical force. Turns out that they’re very interested in the science of things these days. They’ve got a location where they do experiments on Replicators, looking for different ways to defeat them.”

“I hope we’re not supposed to get choked up over the idea of Replicators being experimented on. They’re not human. They’re machines.”

“They’re experimenting on humans as well. There are rumors that they’re looking for a way to turn Replicators human.”

Rodney scoffed. “That’s impossible!”

“I’m not sure I disagree, Dr. McKay. But that doesn’t change the fact that they’re trying.” Ladon turned back to Sheppard. “Kolya hates you. He wants to hurt you. And he also needs money and power. All of that adds up to him kidnapping your people and selling them to the Wraith as test subjects.”

“So does that mean we can just kill Kolya the next time we see him?” Ronon asked. “I mean, if he’s trying to sell us to the Wraith, it’s like self-defense, right? 

“I think I’ve let him live enough times,” John agreed. “If I do it again, he’s just going to take advantage and try to kill me.”

“Like he did all of the other times,” Rodney pointed out.

“Exactly. And that just gets boring.”

“There’s more,” Ladon said, cutting into their banter. “We know of one Replicator they’re experimenting on now.” He paused, locking his eyes with Sheppard’s. “She used to be human.”

The air in the room suddenly disappeared for John. He tried to breathe in, but nothing happened. He was no longer aware of other people in the room. There was nothing except the fire in his chest and the intense need for oxygen. The walls began to tilt and he gripped the table in an effort stay upright.

Ladon was looking at him sympathy, which somehow made the whole thing even more painful.

“It’s her,” the Genii leader said. “It’s Dr. Weir.”

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Kono had to stay calm, because Steve couldn’t. 

It was almost more than she could take, honestly. Losing Chin was still too raw to even think about, but the weight of it never went away. She’d shed tears for him since coming to Atlantis, but she wasn’t sure she’d truly _mourned_ him. And every time she looked at Steve, she was reminded of her failure. Chin had been _her_ cousin. She should have been able to put down the monster that had taken over his body. Instead, she had been weak, and Steve had had to do it. 

A man who already carried more than his fair share of burdens.

And now Danny was missing. They’d searched everywhere, but there was no sign of him. The leaders of the Kalkkari had been completely cooperative, sending their own men out to aid in the search. The only thing they’d discovered was that three men from the village were missing as well. They had no families and had left behind no belongings. It wasn’t a stretch to believe that they had had something to do with Danny’s disappearance. 

Steve was ready to tear into anything within reach. Unfortunately, at the moment that was Radek, and the poor man didn't deserve that. Kono reached out and rested a hand on his forearm, fighting back a wince when Steve flinched at her touch.

"It's not his fault, boss," she said quietly. 

"I am sorry, Commander," Radek told him. "I know how much Detective Williams means to you. And if I could simply reach into the DHD and find out where they had taken him, I would. Unfortunately, that is just not possible. The last fifty gate addresses are stored in here, and not in any order. We would be guessing - which would most likely be a monumental waste of time."

"We are _not_ leaving him," Steve hissed. "I don't leave people behind."

"And I am not suggesting that you do. But we have searched this planet, yes? And a villager confirmed that they saw the gate activate in the middle of the night. Detective Williams is no longer here. We should go back to Atlantis, brief Colonel Sheppard, and formulate a more efficient way to search. That would benefit us _and_ Detective Williams."

Kono didn't need to point out that the scientist was right. Steve already knew it, and she could see the conflict in his face. Leaving the planet felt like leaving Danny behind. But the only way they were going to find him was with more help than they currently had.

"Let's go then," he said, his voice hard. "The faster we get back to Atlantis, the faster we get back to looking for him."

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The city was already abuzz when Steve and his team came back through the gate. Sheppard came down the stairs quickly, a frown on his face.

“You weren’t due back for another - Where’s Williams?”

“They took him,” Steve bit out.

“Who?”

“Some villagers. We searched everywhere, but there’s no sign of him. We’re pretty sure they took him off the planet.”

John glanced back over his shoulder and shared a look with Ronon. When he turned to face McGarrett again, his expression was tight.

“I think we might know where he is.”

“What? How?”

“Let’s get a team together so we can go get him. I’ll brief you on the way.”

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News traveled fast in the city. As soon as Gabby picked up on what was going on, she took Grace down to Malia’s quarters. When the doctor opened the door, Gabby wasn’t entirely surprised to see that Mary McGarrett was there as well. Both women had seemed pretty lost since coming to the city, and it made sense that they would become closer. 

“I have a favor to ask,” Gabby said, forcing as light a smile onto her face as she could. “There are some things I absolutely _have_ to tend to, and I was hoping that Grace could play with you while I’m busy.”

“I can’t come?” Grace asked, looking up with a sad expression.

Gabby squatted down in front of her. “Not this time, darling. But I promise to come get you just as soon as I’m finished, okay?”

The little girl nodded and Gabby got back up, facing Malia once more.

“Would that be alright?”

Despite the sadness in her eyes - Gabby wasn’t sure that would ever go away - the other woman smiled and nodded. “Of course. Maybe you, me, and Mary could get some lunch?”

“Okay.”

Malia stepped aside so that Grace could step into the room; once she was focused on Mary, the doctor looked back at Gabby.

“Is this about Danny?”

“I take it you’ve heard, then.”

“Yeah.”

“Grace doesn’t know. We’re going to go, we’re going to get him back, and she’s not going to spend the time in between worried that her father is dead.”

“We? You’re going?”

Gabby gave her a cold smile. “My skills are not relegated to simple paper pushing. Trust me - between Sheppard, McGarrett, and myself, we’ll bring him home.”

“Make sure you bring yourselves home, too.” She swallowed roughly. “We don’t need to lose anyone else.”

“Don’t worry. And thank you.”

Malia nodded. “Good luck.”

Gabby turned and headed back down the hall. Now she just had to convince Sheppard.

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“No way in hell.”

“I wasn’t asking your permission, John,” Gabby said evenly. “I was simply informing you that I was coming along on this little rescue mission.”

“No.”

“John -”

“You should let her come.”

They both looked up in surprise when Ronon spoke. The big man was checking one of his weapons, but he looked over to give Gabby an approving look.

“I’ve sparred with her a few times,” he continued. “She’ll be useful in there. Especially since Teyla’s not coming.”

The Athosian woman hadn’t been happy about it, but John needed her and Major Lorne to stay in the city. If something happened to the team, he needed to be sure that there were leaders in place to take care of his people. Teyla and Lorne were the best equipped to do that. 

The rescue team consisted of himself, McGarrett, Ronon, Kono, and Rodney. He didn’t want Gabby to come along; he was already worried enough that this mission was going to be less than a total success. Ronon’s opinion, though, was not something to be taken lightly. If he said that Gabby was an asset, then that’s what she was. And the look on her face told him that she was getting on that puddle jumper one way or another.

“Fine,” he relented. “Just remember that you’re a civilian and if I tell you to do something, you _do it_.”

With that, he stalked off towards McGarrett. Gabby shared a look with Ronon. 

“Do you really think Elizabeth is there, too?” she asked quietly.

His expression didn’t change, but the air around him seemed to tighten. “I don’t know. I hope so, though. For his sake, if nothing else.”

“Me too,” she whispered.

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The gate address that Ladon had given them dropped them off on a planet that looked like nothing more than a burnt up husk. The first village they came to was full of ashy ruins. Everything was cold and dead. Whatever destruction had happened there had happened a long time ago. 

"Not exactly welcoming," Rodney muttered as they passed through. 

"A good illusion, though," Kono observed. "Looters would think that there was nothing left of any value. And people looking for a new place to settle wouldn't see any fertile land. No one would have a reason to stick around and explore."

"Alright, the village Ladon put the facility in is two miles that way," John said, pointing to his left. "But the village we want is almost three miles that way." He pointed straight ahead of them.

"Why?" McGarrett asked.

"Ladon said there's an underground passage that should make infiltrating easier than knocking on the front door. And I like to avoid front doors whenever possible."

The trip was done in almost complete silence. Gabby positioned herself near Kono, and the women shared a look before turning their attention back to the men in front of them. Both of them had a lot at stake on this mission. Steve _needed_ to find Danny. It wasn't just that Danny was his partner. Steve considered him a brother. Aside from that, there was Grace. Kono suspected that one of her boss' greatest fears was having to come home one day and tell Grace that her father wasn't coming back. He would do anything to keep that from happening. 

John's position was slightly different. He would give almost anything to find Elizabeth alive and well. Gabby had caught him asleep in one of the common rooms and he had jerked awake, murmuring Elizabeth's name before realizing that he wasn't alone. It was clear that she still haunted him. Finding her was the only way to start healing that wound. If she wasn't there, though, it would be just another dead end. Another nail in the coffin of his hope. He'd had more than one of those in the past couple of years. Gabby knew that one more wouldn't break him. But it would take another piece of him, and she wasn't sure how much more of that he could take. 

Once they reached the village, the entrance to the underground passage was right where Ladon had said it would be. John led the way once they were down there, everyone else falling behind and Ronon bringing up the rear. Kono was right behind Steve and she knew it was killing him to not take the lead here. He kept quiet though, his grip on his weapon tightening. 

They ran into guards forty-five minutes later. John and Steve took care of them silently, moving as though they'd been fighting together for years. A common desperation linked them now, and it made it easier for them to predict what the other was going to do. 

The facility was larger than any of them had been prepared for. They moved quickly and quietly, killing any Wraith that they came up against. They knew that it wouldn't be long before the alarm was raised, and they needed to find Danny before that happened. They worked their way to a computer station and let Rodney do his work. Even he was managing to keep his normal complaints to a bare minimum.

"Hurry up, McKay," John muttered under his breath.

"Do I really need to explain to you again that, despite my genius, some things just take time?"

"If you even try, I promise I'll shoot you myself," Ronon said.

"And I'll help him hide the body," Gabby added.

"I am constantly appalled at how intelligence is mistreated - I've got them."

Everyone stopped.

"Where?" Steve asked.

"Three levels down."

"Then let's go."

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Danny sighed as he sat down and leaned back against the wall, pulling his knees up against his chest. Despite the fact that he had been poked and prodded more in the past eight hours than he had been in his entire life, the only thing he could really focus on at the moment was the fact that he wanted his shoes back. It had taken him a long time to get used to the fact that people went without shoes all the time in Hawaii, but eventually he had at least accepted it. Here, though, in this sterile environment that felt part crazed science lab, part hospital, he felt like he should have shoes. Slippers, at least. But the bastards had taken his shoes and he didn't think he was going to get them back. 

"I've been debating for the past two hours whether you're a plant or just a figment of my imagination."

Danny almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of the voice. It was a woman, coming from somewhere on the other side of the wall he was leaning against. 

"What did you decide?" he asked, unsure of what else to do.

He could almost hear the shrug in her voice. "I decided it doesn't really matter. I miss talking to people. So you're just going to have to put up with me."

"I think I can handle that. How long have you been here?"

There was a pause. "I don't remember. A long time, though. Too long."

"Well, at least they haven't gotten rid of you yet. There might be some hope in that."

"Stay down here for awhile...I think you might change your mind about that." She paused. "What's your name?"

He didn't see the harm in telling her that. "Danny Williams. You?"

He heard a humorless chuckle. "It's been so long since anyone's asked. I used to be known as Elizabeth Weir. Back when I had people who knew me."

Danny froze, the name reverberating in his head as he replayed his conversation with Gabby. "Elizabeth? John's Elizabeth?"

He heard the catch in her breath through the wall. "How did you know that?"

"I'm from Atlantis," he explained. "I know Sheppard. I just saw him a couple of days ago."

For a little while, there was nothing but the sound of shaky breathing. "So he's alright?" she finally asked. "He's okay?"

"Well...he's still standing. He misses you, though. A lot. Everyone does."

The silence was longer this time, and when Elizabeth spoke again, he could hear the tears in her voice even as she tightly restrained them. "He told you about me?"

"No," Danny admitted. "But I get the feeling that Sheppard isn't big with the talking. Gabby shared your story."

"Gabby," she breathed. "So she's okay, too?"

"Yeah. She and Sheppard are pretty much running things. They're taking good care of your city."

Her voice was hollow this time. "It's not my city anymore."

"I get the feeling that it will always be your city. I'm pretty sure my team is looking for me. As much as I complain about him, my partner's a damn good guy, and he doesn't leave people behind. He's kind of obsessive about it, actually. So when he finds me, he'll find you, and then we can take you back to Sheppard and maybe he can stop looking like he lost his best friend."

"I'd like that," she said quietly. "I'd like to go home."

Danny winced. "Well...you can't actually go ‘home’ home."

"What do you mean?"

He told her about Earth.

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Things got quieter once they got down to what John assumed was the cell block of the facility. In his time in Pegasus, he had noticed that the Wraith suffered from a certain level of arrogance, and they could see that in the lack of security on that floor. They probably had the front door well-guarded and didn't expect anyone to know about the back way. They also probably hadn't been expecting a furious Navy SEAL and a desperate Air Force Lieutenant Colonel. Their mistake.

Most of the cells were empty. John tried not to dwell on that. They moved down the darkened corridor as quietly as possible, checking each one before moving on. It was starting to look like a dead end when they finally stumbled onto Danny, sitting with his back against one of the side walls of his cell. For a moment they all just stared at each other and then the blond detective was getting to his feet.

"It's about time, McGarrett!" He turned to John. "You won't believe who..."

"Danny?"

Most of the team froze at the sound of her voice. John's eyes opened wide and he started to walk slowly down the corridor, until he could look into the cell next to Danny's. When he saw her standing there, hope and fear warring in her eyes, he had to swallow down a sob. 

"'Lizabeth," he whispered, his voice rough and cracked. "It's really you?"

"It's me," she replied, a tear sliding down her face. "It's really you?"

John nodded, his resolve strengthening. "We're gonna get you out of here, okay?"

It was then that the alarms finally went off. The sound cut through the empty cells around them and both John and Steve swore. 

"No time for finesse," McGarrett said, raising his gun. "Back up, Danny."

His partner moved to the back of his cell and Steve shot out the glass. John was already doing that to the other cell, and then he was helping Elizabeth get over the glass with her bare feet, his mind almost shutting down at the knowledge that he was touching her. He had _found_ her. And now he was going to get her the hell out of here. 

"Let's go!" he ordered.

They all rushed back the way they had come, with no time for reunions or words. By the time they reached their original level, though, it was obvious that there were too many Wraith for them to fight their way through. John shared a look with Steve and then stopped, causing the rest of the group to stop as well. Taking Elizabeth by the arm, he walked her over to Ronon, pushing her towards the Satedan.

"You get her out of here," he said firmly. "No matter what happens, you get Elizabeth back to Atlantis, you understand me?"

Ronon's face made it clear that he didn't like it, but he nodded. He carried his own guilt from pulling Sheppard away from Weir on the Replicator planet two years ago, and he wasn't going to let his friend down again. Elizabeth saw what they were doing and she was already shaking her head, taking a step back towards John.

"No," she argued. "You can't do this, John. We'll get out of here. _All_ of us..."

He needed her to go. He needed to know that she was safe and that this time he wasn't going to let her down, and the time she was going to spend arguing with him was going to take away from the time she had to escape. Wrapping his free arm around her waist, he pulled her to him and kissed her softly, trying to memorize the way she felt against him.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, trying to make her understand. 

Shouts came from one of the nearby corridors. Steve was pointing at Kono even as he prepared to make his stand with John.

"You get him back to Grace." 

Kono wanted to argue that Ronon could handle it, but she just nodded, knowing that Steve needed her to make sure that it happened. He needed someone he knew, someone he trusted. 

"Go," Sheppard ordered. "Get back to the rendezvous point and get the hell out of here! We'll make sure you're not followed. GO!"

Not a single one of them was happy about it; Danny and Elizabeth still voicing their objections. But the others pulled them away and they ran, leaving Steve and John to face the Wraith. 

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The group managed to fight their way back the way they had come. Wraith were everywhere now, but they were never hit with more than they could handle. Everyone assumed that it was John and Steve throwing them off; splitting up in the face of the enemy was an illogical move and the Wraith didn’t know where to focus their efforts.

Once they were back at the entrance to the tunnel, Gabby stopped short, tugging on Ronon’s elbow.

“We can’t just leave them here,” she said quietly.

“Finally!” Danny said in relief. “So what’s the plan? We go back there -”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Gabby said firmly. She turned back to Ronon. “You’ll make sure they all get to the jumper safely?”

He nodded. “Think you can get Sheppard and McGarrett to the second rendezvous point?”

“What second rendezvous point?” McKay asked. “There is no second rendezvous point!”

“Not in your plan,” Ronon agreed.

“You guys had a second plan?”

Ronon shrugged. “Seemed like a good idea since we were dealing with Sheppard _and_ McGarrett.”

Gabby leaned over and squeezed Elizabeth’s arm. “I’ll bring him back.”

The other woman gave her a small nod. “I would appreciate that.”

“Kill as many of those bastards as you can, okay?” Ronon asked.

Gabby smiled. “You got it, big guy. Now go.”

She made sure that they got into the tunnel without being followed and then headed back to where they had left John and Steve. Most of the people on Atlantis thought that Gabby was nothing more than an administrative lead. She handled the day-to-day business, serving as an executive secretary of sorts to whoever was leading the city. Elizabeth was the only one who knew how much larger her skill set actually was. 

Gabby moved through the hallways silently, killing as she went. Wraith were not easy creatures to put down, as everyone in the Pegasus Galaxy knew. Using bullets was a waste of ammo, and the noise would have attracted others to her location. So she holstered her gun and pulled out her knife instead. The blade was really more of a dagger, something she had carried with her since her early twenties. The majority of her enemies’ bodies were heavily armored and difficult to get at. Moving swiftly and smoothly, she went for their throats and eyes. The arrogance of the Wraith served her well - none of them were expecting such a head-on attack.

By the time she got back to Steve and John, they were pinned down. They were both experienced fighters, but they were outnumbered by an enemy that had more than a few advantages over them. As she ran toward them at full speed, Gabby reached into one of the pockets of the jacket she wore and pulled out a grenade. Arming it, she threw it over their heads and into a pocket of Wraith.

“Get down!” she yelled.

She didn’t actually trust that they would hear her or obey. She had a moment to notice that both ducked even as they turned to look at her though, and she was mildly impressed. Then she was hurtling into them and knocking them both flat to the ground. 

The explosion was loud, and she imagined very painful for the Wraith that were in its path. The men beneath her seemed to be in one piece, though, and she dragged them both to their feet.

"Come on, Maclane and Riggs. Let's get your pretty little asses out of here."

"Only if I get to be Maclane," Steve said even as they followed her down a passageway.

"Oh, hell no," John argued. "You are most definitely Riggs in this equation."

Gabby ignored their banter and led them down a series of passageways that were twisting and seemed to curl back in on each other. When laying out the floor plan of the facility as best they knew it, Ladon had shown them multiple ways of getting in and out. This particular way had been ruled out almost immediately because it was the most confusing. Which of course meant that Gabby had memorized it. She might not have been on John's team when they went off-world, but she knew him well enough to know that a crazy exit strategy should always be held in reserve. 

Their path eventually dumped them into the tunnel that had brought them in from the other village. Instead of sticking with it, though, Gabby led them down another off-shoot that opened up only half a mile away.

"You know what you're doing, right?" John asked.

"I try to make a habit of it. You should try it sometime."

They turned a few more corners before Gabby stopped and squatted down. She pulled some C-4 out of her TAC vest and began setting the charges, keeping an ear open for any pursuit.

“Explosives,” McGarrett said. “I like it.”

“I don’t suppose you’d care to explain how an administrator knows how to set C-4 charges?” John asked.

“Not at the moment, no,” Gabby replied. “If you’d like, we can have story time once we get back to Atlantis.”

Once the charges were set, they continued on their way. The explosives went off less than two minutes after they moved on, the detonation rocking the corridor and causing small rocks and clumps of dirt to fall down on them. Picking up their pace, they kept running, praying that the explosion had at least slowed the Wraith down.

It was another thirty-five minutes of hard running before Gabby led them up and out of the ground. On the surface, John saw that they weren’t in another village. This tunnel entrance had been made to blend in with the forest around it.

“Now what?” he asked.

Gabby pointed toward a clearing. “Now we meet our ride.”

There was a shimmer in the air and then their jumper appeared. John could see Rodney sitting behind the controls, an agitated and terrified look on his face. The scientist still hated flying the jumpers, but he was really the only one that could once John and McGarrett had stayed behind to fight off the Wraith. 

The three of them wasted no time running into the clearing and jumping into their ride. John’s eyes immediately sought out Elizabeth’s, reassuring himself that she was still there. She gave him a small smile and a nod, and it was so reminiscent of every other time he had come back from a rough mission alive that for a moment he had trouble breathing.

“Can we please get out of here?” Rodney whined. 

John shook himself out of his memories and hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “Move.”

“Oh, thank God.”

Rodney gratefully handed over the controls while Steve took a seat next to Danny and Kono. The blonde detective was giving his friend a death glare and eventually Steve sighed.

“Just get it over with, Danno.”

“ _You_ ,” he said, pointing at him. “You stupid, Neanderthal animal _fool_. You think you can just stand there and hold off a hundred Wraith? You think it’s okay to ask your partner - _both_ of your partners - to just turn tail while you get to make some grand final stand? You think that’s what friends do? Let me tell you something -”

“You couldn’t fight, Danno.”

That actually made Danny stop. “Excuse me? And why couldn’t I fight? Did something happen to render me unable to pull a trigger?”

“No, but you couldn’t fight.” He glanced down at his partner’s feet. “You have no shoes.”

He said it like it was the most natural thing in the world, and Danny couldn’t do anything but stare at him, mouth hanging open. Steve looked over at him and gave him a tired smile.

“I’m glad you’re okay, Danno.”

Everything behind that simple statement seemed to take the wind out of Danny’s sails. He slowly closed his mouth and took a deep breath, some of the tension easing out of his shoulders.

“Thank you,” he said quietly. “Thank you for coming to get me.”

“Always will.”

Danny nodded and took another deep breath before looking up to see Gabby still standing by the back of the jumper. “And you - since when do you go off-world and save the day? And why are you still standing? There’s more than enough room to sit. McKay won’t bite. Well, he might. But we had him checked for rabies last month.”

Rodney took on an injured expression and opened his mouth to reply, but Ronon cut him off, looking sharply at Gabby.

"Something's wrong," he said flatly.

She waved him off. "Nothing's wrong, Ronon. I'm just...well, I guess I'm a little tired. It's been awhile since I've done anything like that..." She trailed off, her mind going fuzzy for a moment. "Oh dear." There was a sharp stab in her right side and she pressed her hand to the spot, frowning when she felt something warm and wet touch her skin. "Oh dear."

The inside of the jumper spun and her knees gave out. Without another sound she crumpled to the floor, Ronon and Steve converging on her just in time to keep her from slamming her head. They laid her out gently and Steve undid her vest and pulled her shirt up. A piece of shrapnel had embedded itself in her side, and he realized she must have taken the hit after throwing the grenade at the Wraith. Which meant that she had run more than three miles with blood seeping out of her. 

"Step on it, Sheppard!" he yelled. He reached out and brushed the hair from her eyes. "Stay with us, Gabby," he whispered. "Stay with us."

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Gabby floated back up to consciousness slowly, and as her mind began to grab on to more coherent thoughts, she realized that the way she was feeling wasn’t completely unfamiliar. It had been a long time indeed, but she remembered that this was how she felt whenever she had been injured and managed to survive a mission. Rescuing Danny and Elizabeth came back to her in bits and pieces, and by the time her eyes started to flutter open, she could recall the entire trip. It took a minute for her eyes to adjust to the low lighting, but then she found herself staring up at the ceiling of the infirmary, the hums and beeps around her oddly comforting. 

“How are you feeling?”

She turned her head to the side to see Elizabeth sitting in a chair next to her bed. Gabby studied her friend for a moment, letting her eyes trace the lines in her face. She looked older, but Gabby couldn’t imagine that her two years away from Atlantis had been easy. Her hair was longer as well. She had changed her clothes, though, and it was reassuring to see Elizabeth back in the red shirt and black pants she had always worn on Atlantis. It made things seem right again.

“A little drowsy,” she answered honestly. “I hear Carson and his drugs can have that effect, though. Enough about me. How are you?”

Elizabeth shrugged. “I’m...I’m here. Which is much better than where I was before.” She paused. “I really didn’t think I’d see any of you ever again.”

“The Replicators told us you were dead.”

The former leader of Atlantis let out a long sigh. “I figured it was something like that. I knew there had to be a reason for John to stop looking.”

Both of Gabby’s eyebrows shot. “Stop looking? You’re joking, right? Elizabeth, I realize that it took us far too long to find you, but don’t you think for one damn minute that John Sheppard stopped looking for you.”

A strange mix of emotion flashed across her friend’s face. “What do you mean?”

“Ah, you’re awake!”

They both looked up to see Carson pushing the curtain aside. Gabby gave the doctor a tired smile. “I am now. Thank you for patching me up.”

“I have to say, dearie, you gave us quite a scare.” He glanced over at Elizabeth. “Did she tell you the good news?”

“Aside from the fact that we all made it back alive?” She shot a sharp look at Elizabeth. “We _did_ all make it back alive, right? I know I blacked out in the jumper -”

She reached out and squeezed her arm. “Everybody’s fine. You were the only major injury.”

“As I was saying,” Carson interrupted. “The good news - Elizabeth here is completely free of nanites!”

“How...how is that even possible?” Gabby asked, shaking her head. “I thought you could only deactivate them...”

Elizabeth shrugged. “It must have been something the Wraith did. They made me one hundred percent human again. According to Carson, there’s absolutely nothing abnormal about me.”

“I don’t know if I’d go that far,” Gabby quipped without thinking. Elizabeth’s answering smile was immediate and warm, and for a moment it felt like no time had passed at all. “Nanite-free and home on Atlantis. Can’t complain about that.”

“A lot to take in, though.”

Carson rested a hand on Elizabeth’s shoulder. “It’ll be alright. You’ll see. It’s just good to have you home.” He squeezed her shoulder and then turned back to Gabby. “You have some visitors, love. Is it alright if I send them in?”

“Of course.”

He disappeared, and a moment later John, Steve, Danny and Kono were crowding around the bed. Gabby noticed how John tried to hover somewhere between right next to Elizabeth and a small distance away from her. It pained her to see the two of them out of sync, but there was nothing she could about it at the moment. They needed time, and they needed to talk. She wondered if either of them was really willing to do the latter.

“It’s so nice of you all to come and see me,” she said instead. “I didn’t realize you cared so much.”

“I only came because I was promised story time,” Danny said, a teasing smile on his face as he stuck his hands in his pockets.

Gabby’s mind flashed back to her conversation with Steve and John. “I did promise, didn’t I?”

“Those were some pretty impressive moves back there,” John observed.

“Not to mention the explosives,” Steve added.

“Explosives?” Danny asked. “No wonder you’re so interested. Sounds like your kind of woman.”

Gabby rolled her eyes and Elizabeth gave her an inquisitive look.

“Am I still the only one who knows what you did before Atlantis?”

“Not for much longer.” She took a deep breath. “It’s really not that interesting of a story, you know. I just...had a very different job before I came to this galaxy.”

“And that job was...?” Danny prompted.

“I simply worked for Her Majesty’s government.”

“Her Majesty’s government...as in the Queen of England?”

“Yes.”

“I’m pretty sure even British paper pushers don’t work with explosives.”

Steve chuckled, shaking his head. “You were a spy.”

Gabby frowned. “Spy is such a dirty word.”

“Yes, but is it an accurate one?” Danny asked.

“I suppose so.”

“You...you _suppose_ so? How do you just leave something like that out? It seems fairly important.”

“And yet it just never came up,” she said with a smirk. “I met Elizabeth just after I left MI-6. She was negotiating a deal between a couple of Eastern European countries. One of the leaders didn’t trust his neighbor - naturally - and knew me from a previous mission. He hired me as added security for Elizabeth. Turned out he wasn’t just being paranoid.”

“After she saved my life,” Elizabeth said, picking up the story, “we got to talking. I’d had a few death threats here and there and she seemed like a very useful person to have along. So I hired her as my personal aide and she traveled with me under that guise. Once I started working with the SGC, she became a part of the package.”

“And they let her into the program with her past?” John asked skeptically.

“Oh, they don’t know,” Gabby replied.

“Excuse me?”

“I am _very_ good at cover stories. All of my paperwork looks completely legitimate. I’ve always had a ‘normal’ job to hide behind. MI-6 was very particular about things like that.”

“So you managed to trick the U.S. government and the IOA?”

“Not to mention the British government. I dropped off the grid. Before we arrived in Atlantis, I heard that they were looking for me in Croatia, of all places.”

“Damn,” Danny said. “I don’t know whether to be more disturbed or impressed.”

Steve shot him a look. “You’re impressed.”

“I might be,” he conceded. “Either way, I wanted to thank you. Not only did you help save me, but you managed to keep Rambo and his sidekick from becoming Wraith food.”

John frowned. “Which of us is Rambo in this equation?”

“I would think that’s pretty obvious,” Steve said.

“Not really -”

“Boys.”

They all stopped talking at the tone in Elizabeth’s voice and for a moment it felt so much like old times that Gabby actually felt a pain in the middle of her chest. She could see it all over John’s face as well and she had the sudden urge to hug him as tight as she could. 

“We should let you get some rest,” he said quietly.

Everyone nodded except for Danny. “Actually, I was hoping you’d be up for seeing Grace? She was pretty worried when she found out you got hurt.”

“I would love to see her,” she said.

“Good. I’ll, uh...I’ll go get her.”

Danny slipped out of the room and then one by one, the rest followed. Kono and Steve gave her a smile and a nod before they left, both of them telling her how glad they were that she was okay. John lingered, obviously torn between waiting for Elizabeth and disappearing. Gabby wished there was something she could say to make it easier for him, but to her surprise, Elizabeth beat her to it.

“We’ll come back and see you later,” she said, leaning down to press a kiss to Gabby’s forehead. “You and I have a lot of catching up to do.” She glanced over at John. “A lot of us do.”

He stared at Elizabeth for a moment before swallowing roughly and nodding. “Maybe we can sneak you some breakfast in the morning.”

Gabby liked all of the ‘we’s’ being thrown around. “Sounds lovely. Get some rest, please. I think you both deserve it.”

A few more murmured goodbyes and then they were gone as well. Gabby let out a long breath and closed her eyes. She wasn’t really tired, but her mind had quite a few things to process. It was only a few minutes until Danny came back though, this time with Grace in his arms, and Gabby happily pushed her thoughts away to smile at them both. 

“Well hello there.”

Grace’s eyes were big and worried. “Danno said you got hurt.”

“Oh, it’s just a scratch, darling. I’ll be alright in a couple of days.”

“Can I sit with you?”

“Of course you can.” 

Danny lowered his daughter gently to the bed on Gabby’s uninjured side, and the little girl tucked herself right in, laying an arm across her torso. Gabby let out a long breath as she cuddled with her. Glancing up, she was just in time to see the warm look in Danny’s eyes. He blushed slightly when he caught her eye, but he didn’t look away.

“You said you were going to work,” Grace said, “not going to save Danno.”

“Well, I didn’t want you to worry about us. So I thought I would go and help rescue your father and then bring him back to you.”

“But what if something had happened to both of you? Uncle Steve and Kono were gone, too.”

Both Danny and Gabby heard the fear in her voice. Grace was still coping with the loss of her mother, and in one day, almost everyone else she loved and counted on had been in danger as well. That would be difficult for anyone to handle, but even worse for an eight-year-old girl who was in a galaxy she didn’t understand, far away from the life she had known. She hugged Grace a little tighter.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I know that it’s scary, Grace. But I had to do whatever I could to make sure that your father came back to you. Does that make sense?”

Grace nodded, but didn’t say anything. Gabby looked up again to see Danny watching them, a mixture of sadness and something else that she couldn’t quite put her finger on in his eyes. He stepped closer, running his hands through Grace’s hair.

“We’ll do our best to be careful, okay, Monkey? And you’ll never be alone. I promise.” He took in the way his daughter was holding on to Gabby. “Is it okay if we stay for a little while longer?” he asked quietly.

Gabby nodded. “I’d like that.”

Danny pulled up the chair Elizabeth had been using and settled down, his eyes never leaving them.

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Elizabeth argued with herself the entire way, nearly turning back three times. It had been almost a week since she'd been rescued and brought back to Atlantis, and yet she still hadn't managed to share more than a few sentences with John. She just didn't know where to start. 

She still remembered how it felt to give him the order to leave her behind. She hadn't wanted to do it, but there had been no other way for the rest of the team to get back to the jumper safely. Even knowing that, though, a small part of her had been hurt when he followed that order. John was someone who was almost completely incapable of leaving people behind, even if it put his own life at risk, and the fact that he had been willing to leave her had cut more deeply than she had expected. 

She'd be lying if she said she hadn't expected him to come back. John was hardwired to sacrifice himself for others. He always went back for people. Always. 

He never came back for her. 

Elizabeth told herself a lot of things over the next few months. That John was in charge of Atlantis' safety and he had to do what was best for the city. That he couldn't drop everything and come searching for her when other people depended on him. After the Replicators moved her around a few times, she told herself that the chances of him ever finding her were so remote that she just needed to let it go. John was a miracle worker, but some things were out of reach, even for him. 

At one point, she just became angry. Bitterness built up inside of her and her captors had broken her down so badly that she had no defense against it. It ate at her, and with each new brand of torture they thought up, it grew. She started to hate John and resent the rest of his team. She knew in her heart of hearts that if Ronon or Teyla or Rodney had been taken, he never would have rested. He would have gotten them back. 

It wasn't until the Wraith had stolen her away that the bitterness began to ebb away. Whether he thought she was dead, or didn't know where she was, or just didn't think that saving her was a viable option, John hadn't come to her rescue this time. Being angry about it wouldn't change things. She only had herself to hold onto, and she couldn't let that be destroyed by her feelings of abandonment. She had to be stronger than that. She _was_ stronger than that.

And then he had shown up on the other side of her cell, heart in his eyes. He had shown up and he had taken her away from that hell and now she was back on Atlantis with the people she thought she would never see again.

Elizabeth knew John. Even with her two years away, she still knew him. The guilt and shame in his eyes had been there when he first laid eyes on her in that cell and it had been there every day since. He blamed himself for everything she'd had to endure; it was just the way he was. And no matter his reason for not coming for her, Elizabeth couldn't bear the thought of him berating and second-guessing himself. 

All of which brought her to his quarters. She waved her shaking hand in front of the sensor and waited nervously for him to answer the door. A part of her was afraid that he wasn't there; a larger part was afraid that he was and that he would refuse to come to the door. A few seconds later, though, the door slid open with a _whoosh_ and there was John, toothbrush dangling out of his mouth.

"'Lizabeth," he said, her name mangled as he tried to keep from spitting toothpaste at her. 

She took a deep breath and forced a tight smile onto her face. "Hi. I, uh...I was wondering if we could talk. If you're not too busy, of course."

Elizabeth got the feeling that he wanted to say no, but instead he just nodded and waved her through the door. Once she was inside, he gestured to the bathroom as he started walking towards it.

"Gimme a minute?"

She nodded and he disappeared. While he was gone, Elizabeth looked around the room that she hadn't seen in two years. It hadn't changed, really. The Johnny Cash poster had moved to a different wall, but the guitar was still leaning up against the far corner. She'd only heard him play once, and that was by accident; she could still see the blush on his face when he realized that he wasn't alone. Not for the first time - and she imagined not for the last - she wished that they could go back. Things had been simpler then, even if it hadn't seemed like it at the time.

Her eyes made their way back to the Johnny Cash poster, focusing on one of the corners. It wasn't sticking down as well as the other three, and it looked like there was something else underneath it. She wondered what John could possibly need to cover up; curiosity getting the better of her, she crossed the room and pulled the poster away gently.

At first, she didn't understand. It was obviously a map, and she quickly gathered that it was the Pegasus Galaxy, but she couldn't figure out why John would have it in his room and covered up. Then her gaze fixated on one planet and she realized that it was the Replicator home world. The map looked like it had been added to from there, and there were little notations written in John's hand across the entire thing. Elizabeth stepped closer so that she could read it all, and one by one, things began to fall into place. A small gasp escaped on a breath, and when she heard movement behind her, she turned to see John standing there, eyes pained. She stared at him in disbelief for a moment, the map behind her already etched into memory.

"You never stopped looking," she whispered, now realizing the truth of Gabby's words to her in the infirmary. 

John's eyes bolted away from hers, now staring at a spot somewhere over her right shoulder. He shook his head, emotion choking him.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

His head whipped back to face her, his eyes wet and angry. "Because it doesn't matter!" he hissed. "If it hadn't been for Danny getting kidnapped, or Ladon coming to us with the information -"

John shook his head again, cutting himself off. Elizabeth didn't even try to stop the tears from sliding down her cheeks as she stepped forward. Everything that she had told herself while in captivity, all of the anger and the bitterness...none of it mattered now. She moved until there were only a couple of inches between them, gently taking his face in her hands and bringing his eyes level with hers. She needed to make sure that he heard this.

"It matters to me," she said, her voice breaking. "You never stopped looking."

He looked at her like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I would have looked for the rest of my life," he said fiercely.

And suddenly she knew that it was true. A strangled sob broke free from her chest and she wrapped her arms around him, holding him against her tightly. He clung to her with a desperate strength, but it didn't hurt. Elizabeth just closed her eyes and breathed him in, letting herself, for the first time in two years, to feel as though she wasn't forgotten. And really, she should have known. John wasn't one to let things go - especially when those things were people that he cared about. She had come to the eventual conclusion that she hadn't mattered to him as much as she thought she did. But the way he had just looked at her, the way he was holding on to her now, shattered all of the distorted illusions she'd wrapped around her heart.

She was home. 

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Danny sighed as he stepped out of Grace’s room. Tonight seemed like it was going to be one of the easier nights. His daughter had never been ill-behaved in her life, but sometimes at bedtime, when she was feeling especially sad or scared, she would become peevish. Danny could always sense the shift in her mood, and he knew that he was going to have a hard time getting her into bed and asleep. The chances of her having nightmares were usually higher, too. He mentally crossed his fingers that tonight she would sleep all the way through.

“Grace okay?” Steve asked, perched on the edge of the wardrobe. He had what passed for beer in the Pegasus Galaxy in his hand, and he passed Danny’s glass back to him.

Danny nodded. “Yeah. She’s doing better now that Gabby’s out of the infirmary.”

“She’s really gotten attached to her.”

He took a seat on the end of the bed. “Yeah.”

Steve hesitated slightly. “You think she reminds her of Rachel?”

Danny thought about it for a minute, running his thumb around the rim of his glass. “I think she makes her feel safe like Rachel did. Coming out to rescue me, I think...I think that really cemented her trust, you know? And really, the accent is the only thing they have in common. Gabby’s a completely different person from Rachel.”

“You seem to be getting pretty attached, too.”

Steve expected him to argue about it, but Danny just kind of shrugged. “Maybe I am. Would that be such a bad thing?”

Steve shook his head. “I think she’s great.”

“But?”

“But...make sure that you want her because she’s her, and not because she filled a gaping hole in your life when you needed it most.”

Danny looked up and gave him a bemused smile. “Look at you...giving advice on real adult relationships. It was even good advice. I think I might be proud of you, buddy.”

Steve rolled his eyes and took a drink. “Yeah, yeah.”

“Since we seem to be in the ‘giving advice’ kind of place tonight...”

“You think I need advice?”

“I think you need to talk to Kono.”

Steve frowned, dropping his eyes back to his drink, and Danny knew that he had hit on something.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean...you should go talk to her. You know...like friends are known to do from time to time. In fact, this right here is a shining example.” He took a deep breath. “I know Kono is tough, Steve. She always has been and it’s one of the eight hundred and ninety-three things that I love about that woman. But she is _not_ okay, and you avoiding her -” He held up a hand to stop Steve’s interruption. “Your _blatant_ avoidance is not helping matters. She lost the person closest to her -”

“Which is exactly why I can’t talk to her!” Steve yelled.

Eyes wide, Danny stared at him, not understanding. “You can’t talk to her because Chin is gone? That makes no sense.”

“I can’t talk to her because _I’m_ the one that killed him, Danny!”

For a minute Danny just kept staring at him. "You did not kill him, Steven. He got bit. He was infected. He wasn't even Chin anymore by the time we got to him."

"I put a bullet in his head," Steve gritted out, his teeth clenched and his knuckles white as he gripped his glass. "It doesn't matter that he was infected. I'm the one that put him down. Right in front of Kono. Trust me - I am the last person she needs to talk to right now."

"You think she blames you? She told me about how it went down. She couldn't pull the trigger, so you did it for her. That's not something to blame yourself for, Steve. You did exactly what she needed you to do."

Steve just shook his head. "I killed her cousin."

Danny changed tactics. "So...what? Because you can't bring yourself to look her in the eye, you're just gonna let her suffer alone?"

"She's not alone. She's got you, Malia, Mary..."

"You're supposed to be her friend, too. Ohana, remember? Things might be a little fucked up right now, but we've still got that."

He sighed. "Danny..." Shaking his head, he dropped his gaze to the floor. "She doesn't need me."

"You're a damned fool, you know that, right?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I know."

"Well, as long as you know." 

Danny stood up and joined him. Leaning over, he clinked their glasses together and they stayed there for awhile and just drank, letting the silence be loud enough for the both of them.

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Chuck was the only one in the control room when it happened.

He wasn’t supposed to be there. It wasn’t his shift, and really, he should have been down in his quarters, sleeping. He was restless, though, and eventually it had chased him out of his bed. Morgan hadn’t argued too much when he offered to take over for him. It wasn’t like there was a lot of work to be done on Atlantis at almost two in the morning; someone just needed to sit there in case something happened.

Chuck stared at the Gate, lost in thought. He was fairly certain that the reason he couldn’t sleep was one MaryAnn McGarrett. When the group from Hawaii had initially come to Atlantis, he hadn’t given them much thought. The idea that zombies had overrun Earth and they could probably never go home again was a much bigger deal at the time. After a few weeks, though, he started to get to know Mary. She was inquisitive and abrasive, and he loved hearing her laugh. He thought there was a good chance she liked him, too; Chuck made a deal with himself that he would ask her to dinner the next day. 

He snapped back to attention as the Gate suddenly activated. There weren’t any teams off-world at the moment and he threw the shield up without even thinking; whoever was trying to come through sure as hell wasn’t invited. He tapped his radio.

“Colonel Sheppard to the Gateroom immediately. Unauthorized off-world activation.”

Chuck knew that a team of Marines would be there in less than a minute. He should have had to just wait for them, staring at the watery blue of the event horizon. The shield was up. They should have been safe. 

A loud _CRACK!_ shot through the room, and he stared at the Gate in disbelief. There was a fissure in the event horizon, an impossibility that rendered him silent and unable to move. The sound reverberated again and the fissure grew. It was like the event horizon had suddenly become a door that someone was breaking down. 

The Marines were just coming into the room, weapons held at the ready, when a fist came through the gate. Chuck watched in horror as the wall of blue that he had so often admired was torn apart like a curtain, revealing an army of Wraith led by a man that everyone in Atlantis at least knew by name.

“Kill them all,” Kolya ordered.

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John was racing down the hallway when the emergency alarms started going off, the sound almost deafening as it ripped through the city. He quickened his pace, almost barreling straight into McGarrett as the other man shot out of his room.

“What the hell is going on?” he demanded.

“I don’t know,” John replied. “Got a gun?”

“Always do.”

“Then follow me.”

Gabby rounded a corner and came running towards them and Danny popped out of his own room, still wrestling his t-shirt over his head.

“Trouble?”

John nodded. “Gate room. You coming?”

Danny looked right at Gabby and she nodded. “I’ll stay with Grace,” she said. “Be careful. All of you.”

Danny tangled his fingers with hers on the way by and then he was gone, following the other two as they headed for the Gate room. The entire city had been woken up by the alarms, but John kept shouting for all of them to stay in their rooms. He had no idea what they were going to find, and he couldn’t raise Chuck on the radio. A heavy knot formed in the pit of his stomach and he found himself wishing he had Elizabeth by his side. He couldn’t check on her, though. Not yet. The city had to come first. 

The sounds of a firefight reached them just as Ronon, Teyla, and Lorne met up with them. Another corner rounded and they came to the control room, everyone staring in horror as Wraith flooded the room, guns blazing as they attacked the soldiers trying to hold them off. Ronon and Steve immediately opened fire, but John found himself transfixed by something on the top tier of the room. At the main terminal, where he usually saw Chuck every day, he could just make out the body of the technician lying dead on the floor. Standing over him was Kolya, a look of grim satisfaction on his face as he straightened up from the computer and locked eyes with Sheppard. 

“Colonel Sheppard!” he called out loudly. “I’m so glad you could join us.”

John grabbed Ronon and Steve and hauled them both back around a corner, using the wall for cover. The others followed them and John reached up to tap his radio.

“Gabby?”

“Right here, John.”

“Send out a city-wide evacuation. Tell everyone to head for the jumpers - the Gate room is gone.”

“Consider it done.”

“And Gabby?”

He clicked his radio off and turned to his small group. “Teyla, I want you and Danny to head to the jumper bay. Start getting people packed in as well as you can. Grab any weapons and supplies you can fit. Once a jumper is full, send it out to the alpha site. Make sure there’s at least a couple of soldiers, or someone who can handle a gun, on each one, okay? Ronon, McGarrett, you’re with me.” He stepped closer to Lorne and lowered his voice. “Major, I need you to make sure that Elizabeth gets on one of those jumpers.”

Lorne nodded. “I’ll find her, Sheppard.” He knew what this meant. “I’ll keep her safe.”

John stared at him for a minute and then nodded as well, stepping back. “Alright. We might be evacuating, but that doesn’t mean Kolya’s getting this city free and clear. Let’s make it as messy as possible.”

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Danny and Teyla raced through the hallways, Danny taking an unexpected turn to the right when they were supposed to go left. Teyla stumbled slightly and then caught up to him.

“Danny -”

“I’m getting my daughter first!” he insisted. “Not to mention Mary and Malia. Then we can head to the jumper bay.”

Teyla knew better than to argue with him. Danny had proven time and again that his daughter was the most important thing in his life and there was nothing in the world that would make him leave her. 

A strong tremor ran through the city then and they both had to pause to catch their balance. It was quickly followed by another one and Teyla feared that the city was in mortal danger. Windows in the corridor behind them exploded in a hail of glass and fire and she realized that they were being fired upon. Her brain struggled to understand how the Wraith had gotten through the shields, how the ships had appeared undetected, but those answers wouldn’t help them now. Their only focus had to be on survival.

They rounded the last corner and saw Gabby ushering Grace out of the room. Danny felt something in him relax just a little as he saw his daughter for himself. The city was falling down around their ears, but as long as he could hold her and know that she was alright, he would be okay.

The hallway rumbled again, more forcefully this time, and cracks ran up the walls. The Wraith were hitting them with everything that they had and Danny wasn’t sure how much more the city could take. He forced himself to run faster, determined to reach his little girl.

“DADDY!” Grace called when she caught sight of him, her teddy bear clutched tightly in her arms. 

The next tremor was so powerful that it knocked both Danny and Teyla to the ground. He struggled to get back to his feet even as he stared in horror at the cracks that now reached up to the ceiling. His eyes snapped back to Grace as everything inside of him went cold.

“GRACE!”

The ceiling between them came down with a crash that forced the two of them even further back as they tried to avoid the falling debris. Dust filled the air, threatening to choke them and limiting their field of visibility. Danny pushed himself off the floor, coughing and rubbing at his eyes.

“Grace!”

There was no response and he lunged forward, clawing at the debris as he tried to make a hole.

“Grace!”

“Daddy!”

At the sound of her voice Danny stopped and let out a broken sigh of relief. “Baby, are you okay?”

“I’ve got her, Daniel,” Gabby’s voice floated through the barricaded. She coughed a few times. “She’s alright. I’ll bring her, Mary, and Malia to the jumper bay another way. We’ll meet you there.”

He didn’t like it. He wanted Grace in his arms so that he knew for sure that she was safe. Too many things could go wrong with them being separated. He trusted Gabby, though, and he had no other choice but to let them go.

“Be careful!” he warned them. “Wraith are in the city and I’m pretty sure they’re hell-bent on our destruction.”

Danny heard her mutter something that sounded particularly close to a curse. “I’ll make sure they get there safely. Is Teyla okay?”

“I am,” the Athosian woman responded. “Ronon, John, and Commander McGarrett are trying to hold the Wraith off. Kolya is leading them.”

“I’m really starting to think it’s time someone put an end to that man.”

“I am sure John is thinking the same thing. Danny and I will meet you in the jumper bay. Are you armed?”

“Always, darling. Take care of yourselves and we’ll see you shortly.”

Danny couldn’t leave yet. “Grace!”

“Yeah?”

He swallowed roughly. “Danno loves you.”

“I love you too!”

There wasn’t anything more he could do for her. Turning, he nodded at Teyla and followed her back the way they had come.

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It was a miracle that they were still alive. John shot at another Wraith before ducking behind a corner and corrected himself. It was mostly because of Ronon that they were still alive. McGarrett was a SEAL and damn good, and John had been known to get himself out of a few tight scrapes here and there, but nothing could compare with the Satedan's rage. He had already lost one home to the Wraith - losing a second was just about enough to push him over the edge. He went barreling down hallways with a roar, killing them anyway that he could. John and Steve were lucky if they took down one or two to every five of Ronon's kills. 

John hadn't said it aloud, but he had no choice but to admit it to himself. The city was lost. Wraith were everywhere. For every pack of the aliens that his group put down, they came across twice as many members of the Atlantis expedition, dead. Bodies were strewn across the hallway. Some were nothing more than dried husks, the Wraith having fed on them and stolen the rest of their years from them. Others were broken and bloody, shot or cut down where they stood. 

He didn't understand it. Kolya and his army shouldn't have been able to get through the shield. The long-range sensors should have picked up the Wraith ships long before they got to the city. How could they have been caught so unawares?

They turned another corner and literally ran into McKay. John let out a long sigh of relief at the sight of his friend, but there was disappointment there as well. He had been hoping that Elizabeth was with him. 

"Sheppard, thank God!" Rodney exclaimed. "I was asleep and then there was all this noise and I got up to yell at whoever was making it, but then there were Wraith and I had to run -"

John grabbed his shoulders. "Rodney!"

McKay blinked. "What?"

"We have to get to the jumper bay. There's too many of them. We can't hold them off."

“But, but...we can’t abandon the city! We can’t let them have it! You know what they could do with everything here. Earth already has zombies - they don’t need Wraith on top of it!”

“The control room is gone,” McGarrett interrupted. “You can’t go in there and activate the self-destruct.”

“Can you do it from another computer?” Ronon asked.

“Of course. I just need to get to my lab and -”

“Rodney!” John snapped.

The scientist blinked. “What?”

“Less talking. More running.”

They sped down the hallway. John looked at his companions and realized that McGarrett and Ronon were both bleeding from multiple wounds. He wondered if they were grazes or scratches or actual bullet holes, but it wasn’t like they had time to stop and do a check. Different parts of his body clamored for attention as well; he didn’t even have time to take inventory of his own wounds.

They reached the lab after another massive fight in the hall and Rodney headed straight for his terminal. Fingers flying across the keyboard, John glanced over and saw just how terrified his friend was. Rodney was usually someone you couldn’t get to shut up, but at the moment, he was completely focused on the task at hand. 

“Dammit.”

They all looked over at Steve. “What?”

“Radio’s not working.”

“Kolya probably shut them down,” Rodney replied. “It kind of makes it hard to kill everyone if they can communicate and fight back. Or, you know, formulate an effective retreat.”

“I just hate not knowing if my team is safe.”

“Trust me, you’re not the only one,” John muttered. “I hope Elizabeth got to the jumper bay.”

Rodney froze, fixing John with a steely glare. “You don’t know where Elizabeth is?”

“No, Rodney. I’ve been a little busy! I sent Lorne after her, though.”

“But, but...it’s _Elizabeth_! You can’t leave her behind, Sheppard. Not again!”

Rodney’s words hit him hard and John swallowed roughly. The thought of letting Elizabeth down again, of having to deal with losing her _again_...it made everything in his chest tighten. He would give anything to be able to make sure that she was safe. But the city was burning and people were dying and he was the one that had to make the hard decisions.

He opened his mouth to say as much and urge Rodney back to work when a hail of gunfire interrupted him. Wraith were coming at them from two different directions and McGarrett and Ronon were having a difficult time holding them off. John and Rodney ducked as bullets bounced around inside of the room and then John rushed forward to help McGarrett. Ronon had the better chance of holding a doorway all by himself. 

He would have been dead if it weren’t for McGarrett. There were just too many Wraith in too confined of a space, and one eventually got the better of him, slamming him into a wall hard enough to make his head spin and his limbs refuse to cooperate for a minute. The Wraith grinned down at him and reached out, obviously intent on feeding. John’s mind flashed back to the last time he had endured this and he prayed to God that this time it went by quicker. 

The Wraith never touched him. Sporting a new gash down the length of his forearm, Steve turned suddenly and drove a long knife into the Wraith’s neck. It pushed the creature back far enough for the SEAL to fire three shots into his forehead and then he was down and the corridor was blessedly quiet.

“Thanks,” John muttered, struggling to get back to his feet.

Steve hauled him up. “Don’t mention it.”

A quick glance to the side told him that Ronon was still standing despite the new wounds he was sporting, but when he turned his attention to Rodney, he froze. His friend was leaning heavily against the table, hand pressed to the side of his chest. Blood poured out of the hole and Rodney stared at it in horror and disbelief.

“No, no, no, no, no, no,” John chanted, rushing across the room just in time to catch him. "Don't do this to me, Rodney!"

"I didn't mean to," he replied, looking slightly offended. "Oh, God. This is really bad isn't it?"

McGarrett stayed at the doorway to keep watch; Ronon came over to kneel down next to the scientist, taking in the wound with grave eyes. He looked over at Sheppard and gave a small shake of his head.

"Oh, God," Rodney moaned. "Even I know what that means."

"Shut up, McKay," John said, trying to keep his voice steady. "It's bad, but we'll -"

Rodney grabbed the front of John's shirt and tugged him closer. "You have to find Elizabeth."

"Rodney -"

"You _have_ to," he insisted. "You can't leave her again. We did that once. We can't...Sheppard, she deserves better." He stopped, tears flooding his eyes. "It was my fault. I know I never admit it when I'm wrong. Mostly because I never am. But, but...I was wrong. With Elizabeth. I should have listened to you. If I hadn't reactivated the nanites, she wouldn't have gone to the Replicator planet and she wouldn't have had to sacrifice herself to save us. She -"

"She'd be dead," John interrupted firmly. "But she's not and we got her back, Rodney. We got her back."

"But you can't leave her again. You can't." He took in a stuttering breath, and John could hear the fluid inside of it. "I can finish the self-destruct. I can give you enough time to get out of here. The explosion will destroy the city and kill all of the Wraith in it. You just -"

"I'm not leaving you!" John hissed.

"You have to!" Rodney yelled back. "We both know I'm a goner. Okay, there's no last minute miracle here, no quick fix that's going to make it all better. The city is gone! You have to get as many people as you can and get _out_! You have to be there with them, Sheppard. They're going to need you to survive wherever you end up. And _you need to get Elizabeth_! You have to!"

John opened his mouth to argue, but Ronon reached out and touched his shoulder. "He's right, Sheppard. There's nothing we can do for him now. Let him go out with his dignity."

"I'd rather not go out at all," Rodney argued. "But I don't really have a choice here." His watery eyes met John's. "We had a hell of a run, didn't we?"

Emotion nearly choking him, John clutched his friend's shoulder. "You know it, buddy."

"Promise me you'll get Elizabeth."

He nodded. "I will. I'll keep her safe, Rodney. I promise."

"Good. Now bring that laptop down here and get the hell out of here. And don't argue with me - you know I'm right."

John forced a small smile onto his face. "Yeah, well...you usually are."

Rodney's face beamed as much as it could with all the pain he was in. "Thanks."

John nodded. "Bye, Rodney."

He forced himself to his feet, wiping at his eyes as McGarrett looked over at him. John moved over to join him, but Rodney pulled Ronon down to say one last thing to him. He turned his back to give them some semblance of privacy, and because he didn't think he could take hearing another goodbye.

"I don't think we're gonna have a lot of survivors at the jumper bay," McGarrett said quietly. "We've seen too many bodies."

"Then we save the ones that are still alive. It's the only thing we can do." He looked up to see Ronon standing beside him. "All set, big guy?"

"I'm killing every Wraith we come up against," he growled. "You two might want to just stay behind me."

John wanted to look back once more, but he couldn't do it. Instead, he followed Ronon and Steve as they headed back out into the corridor, praying that he could keep his last promise to Rodney.

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Gabby raced down the corridors, Grace in her arms and Malia and Mary by her side. She'd handed one of her guns over to Mary as soon as they'd started running and she was glad to see that the younger McGarrett knew how to handle a weapon. 

Wraith were everywhere, as were the dead bodies. Gabby had to hold her emotions in tight check as they rounded each corner and she saw the faces of people she had once called friends. Katie Brown had been almost torn in half and Gabby had immediately pressed Grace's face into her shoulder. The girl had already seen more atrocities than most people saw in their entire lives, but Gabby would spare her whatever she could. 

There was a lot going on that she didn't understand, and her mind was struggling to sift through everything. The Wraith shouldn't have been able to enter the city. Their ships shouldn't have been able to get so close without tripping the long-range sensors. And Wraith were not usually this brutal. They were evil, vile creatures, but for the most part they were all about feeding. They ate or killed their opponents and moved on. This, though...Gabby wasn't seeing a lot of people who had had the life sucked out of them in usual Wraith style. There was too much blood. Gory stomach wounds, some limbs torn off, slashed throats...they'd been fighting the Wraith for more than four years and she had never seen them act like this. She worried that that meant there was something much bigger going on - something that she couldn't see yet. 

She didn't have time to worry about that, though. As they stopped before rounding another corner, she focused on catching her breath and checking to make sure that Grace was still okay. The little girl was obviously scared, with tears running down her face, but she didn't scream or cry out. Gabby was incredibly proud of her.

"You're bleeding," Malia said sharply after she had inspected Mary for any wounds.

Gabby looked down to see that a bullet had gotten her left shoulder. Now that she was aware of it, it started to hurt terribly, but she swallowed roughly and pushed it aside. It was her shooting arm; she could shoot fairly well with her right hand, but she wasn't sure she could carry Grace in her injured arm. 

"It doesn't matter," she muttered. "Down this hall and to the left and we'll be in the jumper bay." She passed Grace to Malia. "Mary, I want you to lead. Shoot anything blue. I'll cover your rear. Malia, your _only_ job is to make sure Grace gets into one of those jumpers safely, alright?"

The other woman nodded. "I promise."

"You're coming too, right, Gabby?" Grace asked, her voice small and her eyes big. 

Gabby forced a smile onto her face. "I'll be right behind you, love."

"And Danno?"

"He'll be there, too. And then we'll get out of here together, okay?"

Grace nodded and Gabby pushed herself back to her feet. Mary came up to take the front with Malia and Grace between them. Sharing a look with the other two women, Gabby knew that they understood their mission. Danny could _not_ lose his daughter, no matter what. All three of them would die to make sure she made it to a jumper. 

"Go," she urged quietly.

It took them less than twenty seconds to get down the hall and then they were through the door that opened up into the jumper bay. Gabby could see that there were jumpers ready and waiting, but only two of them had any people in them. She caught sight of Danny and Teyla supervising the escape, her eyes meeting with Danny's for just a second as he registered that his daughter was alive and almost in his arms. Gabby almost let herself breathe a sigh of relief that they had made it. 

Except that they hadn't.

Wraith came from the side and from behind her. Mary turned to shoot at one of them, but her angle was all wrong. Danny shouted out a warning and Gabby scanned the entire room, taking stock of her options. 

"Get to the jumper!" she yelled.

And then she spun around to meet their attackers. She knew that there was no way she could defeat five Wraith on her own with an injured shoulder. This wasn't like the rescue mission to get Danny and Elizabeth back - she tired, and she was bleeding, and she didn't have the element of surprise. But she could stall them, and that was all her friends needed to get to safety.

She did her best to block everything else out as the first Wraith came charging at her. The knife in her opponent's hand was cruel-looking and she ducked his first throw, slipping behind him and getting her right arm around his neck. She might not have been as strong on that side, but she threw her weight down, forcing him to bend backwards uncomfortably. Gritting her teeth against the pain in her other shoulder, Gabby snapped her body to the side and broke the Wraith's neck before letting him fall to the floor. 

It had taken more out of her than she expected, and as she turned to face her second attacker, she realized that she was moving too slowly. Just a second or two off, but it meant that she couldn't get her weight completely stabilized before having to meet the oncoming blow. Her knees gave out and her feet slipped out from underneath her as the floor rushed up to catch her.

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The city was shaking violently by the time John, Steve, and Ronon reached the jumper bay. It had taken them longer than usual to get there, between the packs of Wraith they had run into and the collapsed hallways that had forced them to find another way. The tremors were almost constant now, and John knew that the city wasn't going to stand much longer, even without Rodney activating the self-destruct.

He blinked, forcing away those last memories of his friend.

The first thing he saw as they ran into the jumper bay was Danny scooping his little girl up into his arms and running her into one of the jumpers. Teyla was ordering the other ship to close its back door even as she waved Malia and Mary to follow Danny. A sharp cry rose from the far side of the room and he turned to see Gabby surrounded by Wraith, disappearing under a hail of blows. 

The first full jumper was lifting off as Ronon and Steve raced towards Gabby. Ronon let out a howl of anger and loss and frustration, the sound filling the room, causing some of the Wraith to look up in surprise. It was the last thing they did. The Satedan ripped them away from Gabby, shoving his gun into their faces and pulling the trigger. Steve stabbed one in the eye with his knife and then dove in after the British woman, gathering her up in his arms and then turning toward the remaining jumper. 

"John!"

He turned to see Teyla waving him over and he went once he saw that Ronon and McGarrett had everything under control. They couldn't wait any longer. If there were going to be any survivors from Atlantis, they needed to get the jumper in the air right away. He jogged up the ramp and took in its occupants. Lorne was in the pilot's seat, with Carson sitting next to him. Radek, Mary, Malia, Grace, and Danny were there as well. And then his eyes landed on Elizabeth, and he felt the knot in his heart loosen just a little bit. 

"'Lizabeth," he murmured. "You're okay."

She nodded, and he noticed a cut above her left eye. "Major Lorne found me almost immediately. Made sure I got here safely."

John made a mental note to thank the man profusely later. "You ready to get out of here?" he asked the major.

Evan nodded. "Just let me know when the rest of them get in and I'll close the doors. Engines are ready."

The five seconds that it took Ronon and McGarrett to get Gabby into the jumper felt like an eternity, but then the doors were shutting and the jumper was taking off. John stepped to the side as best he could so that McGarrett could lay Gabby down on the floor; Danny whispered something to Grace and then passed her over to Mary before kneeling down by Gabby's head and putting pressure on the wound in her shoulder. She was conscious, but her breathing was labored and her eyes unfocused. 

"A doctor would be pretty useful right now," Danny called out.

It took a bit of maneuvering, but eventually both Carson and Malia were there. The latter pulled Gabby’s shirt away from the wound while Carson started wiping away the blood. Ronon grabbed a first aid kit from somewhere and set it by Beckett’s side. 

The jumper took a sudden dive, and everyone braced themselves.

“As steady as you can keep it, lad!” Carson called out without looking up. 

“Sorry, doc,” Lorne replied. “We’re taking some heavy fire. It’s not gonna be easy to get out of here.” There was another sharp turn. “Sheppard!”

Grimacing, John jumped up onto the bench seat on the side of the jumper and climbed across it to get to the front of the ship. Once he was at Lorne’s side, he leaned forward to get a better view. The major pointed out the window towards the top of a walkway that connected two towers. John squinted, noticing that there were two figures out on the narrow structure.

“Is that...?”

Lorne nodded. “It’s Cadman. And that Wraith is about to get her.”

“Can you shoot him?”

“Not without possibly hitting her. I don’t want to risk it.”

“Then get us down there.”

He turned and climbed to the back door. “Ronon! Got your gun ready?”

“Always do.”

“Good.” John activated the rear door so that it opened up. “You shoot the bastard and I’ll grab Cadman.”

As soon as the door was clear, Ronon started firing at the Wraith. The closer they got, John could see just how bad off Cadman was. The structure she had somehow gotten trapped out on wasn’t very wide, and she was lying on her stomach, clinging to it with all of her strength. He didn’t think there was much of that left, either. One of her pant legs was soaked in blood, making him wonder at how she was conscious at all. 

It was obvious that she wasn’t going to be able to get up and walk herself into the jumper. Ronon’s shots struck home, and as the Wraith fell backwards off of the structure, John eased himself to the very edge of the back of the jumper. The Satedan grabbed the back of his shirt to keep him steady and John did his best to gather Cadman into his arms. As he started to pull her inside, he saw other Wraith coming through the window of one of the towers.

“Get us out of here, Lorne!” he yelled. 

The jumper pulled forward. Off-balance, John fell back inside with Cadman on top of him, the blood from her leg already starting to soak through his own clothes. 

“Faster!” Ronon roared. “McKay set the self-destruct - it could blow -”

There was a moment of silence, almost as though all sound had been sucked out of the air. John barely had time to register what was about to happen when the city exploded in a flash so bright that it felt like a hundred knives were stabbed through his eyes. He shut them, but it was already too late. Even the smallest attempt to open them again sent a migraine ripping through his head and he knew that serious damage had been done. 

“I’ve got her Sheppard,” Ronon murmured, pulling Cadman from his arms.

“My eyes...” he groaned.

“BECKETT!” Ronon yelled. “Two more patients!”


	3. Chapter 3

They saw the second jumper get blown to pieces less than five minutes later. A collective gasp ran through the group as they watched a Wraith ship outmaneuver them and shoot them down. There was no time for them to do anything, no chance of helping their friends. As the pieces fell down into the water below, it was obvious that there weren’t any survivors. 

“Get us out of here, Lorne,” Elizabeth said quietly. “Don’t go to the Alpha site yet. Not until we’re sure we’re not being followed.”

He nodded without any hesitation. “Yes, ma’am.”

Confident that Lorne could shake whatever tail they had, Elizabeth turned and surveyed her fellow survivors. She couldn’t believe that this was all there was left of the Atlantis expedition. Just the day before, the city had been vibrant and full of life. Now there was just a handful of people left, and none of them looked as though they were doing okay. 

Kono sat in the seat next to Lorne, staring out into space. Steve stood behind her, leaning on the back of the chair. His eyes moved constantly between Kono, Danny, Grace, and his sister. She knew that he was reassuring himself that all of his people were still there. 

Gabby had been patched up as well as possible and was now sitting next to Danny and Grace, her face pale and worn, covered in scratches and bruises. Danny was pressed tightly against her side even as he held his daughter close. The little girl was crying quietly and Danny just rocked her, murmuring quiet words of comfort. 

Ronon and Teyla stood near the back of the jumper, both looking tired even as they stayed alert. Blood had dried on both of them, but none of their injuries seemed severed enough to warrant attention just yet, and Elizabeth was grateful that two of their best fighters were still on their feet. She hoped that once they got rid of the Wraith they could breathe a little easier, but there was no telling what the future had in store for them. 

Cadman was lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood. Whatever had happened to her on Atlantis had caused serious damage to her right leg, and both Carson and Malia were working to keep her alive. The blood loss was frightening and Elizabeth found herself praying to God that the lieutenant survived. Radek crouched nearby, passing the doctors whatever they needed from the medical kits that Carson had had the foresight to bring into the jumper.

She turned to John last. He sat beside her, his legs twitching with restless energy. Carson had assured them that the blindness was most likely temporary, caused by the flash of the explosion. It didn't do much to comfort John. A piece of his t-shirt had been torn away and fashioned into a blindfold to keep the light away from his eyes, and she could feel the frustration rolling off of him in waves. Slowly, Elizabeth reached out and placed her hand on top of his, letting him know that she was right there. She wanted to say something, but for once, words failed her. When John entwined their fingers and squeezed her her hand, she knew that he just needed her silent support for now. Words could come later. 

She wasn't sure how long they flew on for. There were a lot of sharp turns and dips for awhile as Lorne did his best to lose the Wraith ships behind them. Elizabeth found herself watching Grace as her eyes slowly started to close. Danny shifted his grip on her and she curled herself against him, burying her head in his neck. Gabby wasn't far behind her, and soon her head was resting on the other shoulder. Danny looked down at both of them with relief and affection in his eyes, letting out a long breath. His eyes then searched out Kono and Steve and he seemed to settle a bit more. 

By the time the jumper was landed, Gabby and Grace weren't the only ones who needed to be roused. All of them were exhausted and she was fairly certain that everyone was sporting injuries of some kind. She only wished that she could be sure they were going to get to rest soon. 

"Where are we?" Steve asked once the ship was on the ground.

"M37-459. There are a few scattered tribes, but we're pretty much in the middle of nowhere right now. The Stargate is about ten miles west of here."

"We can't travel any more today," Carson interrupted. "We have some serious injuries here and everyone needs to rest."

Elizabeth shared a look with Steve and nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. We're in no shape for any more surprises or adventures. Let's unload whatever supplies we have and take stock."

Everyone agreed. Ronon and Steve handled Laura carefully as they carried her out into the wooded glen. Elizabeth came out next, leading John to a fallen tree where she gently pushed him down to sit on it. Even without being able to see his eyes, the grip he had on her was enough to let her know that he didn't want her to go anywhere. There was work to be done, though, and as much as she wanted to stay with him, they needed all hands on deck. 

She squeezed his hand and crouched down. "I'm just going to help unload the jumper. I won't be gone long."

His jaw clenched and she could feel the frustration rolling off of him in waves. Steve must have sensed it as well - Elizabeth got the feeling that he knew something of the position that John was in - and he took a seat next to him.

"I won't let her out of arm's reach, Sheppard. I'll make sure that she's safe. Just until you can do it yourself again, okay?"

John gave a curt nod. "Thanks, McGarrett."

"Alright. You've got Malia and Carson tending to Cadman over to your left. Gabby and Grace are sitting just to your right, on the other side of me, okay?"

"Yeah. Go ahead. I'll hold down the fort here."

His lips quirked slightly, and Steve's expression matched. Getting to his feet, he followed Elizabeth back to the jumper.

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Gabby didn't stay perched on the log. Sliding down, she eased herself down to the ground, using the fallen tree as something to lean against. Her shoulder was throbbing angrily, enough to bring tears to her eyes, and the rest of her body wasn't fairing too much better. She started to let her eyes close, despite the fact that she knew she needed to stay alert at least until the others returned from the jumper. Carson and Malia were too focused on Cadman, and John couldn't see anything. If they were attacked, she was the only one in that group who could do anything to hold it off until the others reached them. She was just so damn tired. Her training in London had taught her how to withstand a lot, but everybody had their limits and she was steadily approaching hers. 

Her eyes snapped open, though, when she felt Grace seating herself between her knees and leaning against her stomach. Pushing the pain in her shoulder as far back as she could, Gabby wrapped her arms around the little girl and placed a soft kiss to the top of her head. 

"Are you alright, darling?" she asked softly.

Grace nodded. "None of the bad guys hurt me."

"What about your heart? You saw a lot today that nobody should ever have to see, and I bet a lot of it made you sad and scared."

"I'm trying to be brave, though. Like Danno and Uncle Steve."

"And you are doing a _wonderful_ job. But it's okay to admit that you're not okay. All of us are sad and all of us are scared."

"Are we gonna be okay?" Grace asked. "I liked Atlantis."

"I did, too," Gabby admitted. "It was my home for the past few years. I'm going to miss it a great deal."

"And we can't go back to Earth."

"No, we can't."

"What do we do, then?"

Gabby took a deep breath, quickly deciding that was a bad idea as her shoulder screamed at her. "Well, I think we do our best to find a new home. It won't be the same, but we can make it ours. We have people that we love and who love us back, and that's what's really important, isn't it?"

Grace nodded. "Ohana." She pushed herself up slightly so that she could whisper in Gabby's ear. "Do you think Colonel John is okay?"

Gabby thought about it for a moment. "Why don't you go over and check?"

One of the many things that Gabby loved about Grace was the fact that she wasn't afraid to interact with other people. The little girl pushed herself to her feet and walked over to John, lightly touching his knee.

"Colonel John?"

A small smile tugged at his mouth as he turned to look in the direction of her voice. "Hey, Gracie. What can I do for you?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Carson said your eyes would start working in a couple of days, right?"

He nodded. "Yep. And the doc is usually right."

Grace bit her bottom lip and glanced over at the jumper, where the rest of their party was still unloading supplies. "Don't worry about Elizabeth," she said. "Uncle Steve is really good at protecting people. I always trust him with my Danno."

Her voice was steady and firm, her faith in her Uncle Steve complete and unwavering. John couldn't help but feel reassured just a little bit that McGarrett was watching over Elizabeth while he couldn't do the job himself. He'd seen the man in action enough times to know that he always protected his people. 

Any comfort he felt immediately disappeared when he heard a familiar whine overhead. Despite Lorne's best efforts, someone had found them.

"EVERYONE OUT OF THE JUMPER!" Ronon roared.

There was nothing John could do for his friends, but Grace was right in front of him. Without thinking about it, he pulled her into his arms and pressed her to the ground, making sure that his body completely covered hers. The explosion ripped through the air only a moment later, and though John couldn't see it, he could hear the debris falling all around them. Something struck his back, but it wasn't particularly heavy and he didn't feel any sort of burning. 

There were a few seconds of shocked silence, but then there were hands on him, pulling him off of Grace frantically. John fought at first, until he realized that it was Gabby and she was speaking.

"Are you both alright?" she demanded.

John nodded as Grace answered. "We're okay, Gabby. I promise."

"Elizabeth?" he asked, a note of desperation in his voice. 

Her immediate response brought him relief. "She's okay, John. I can see her, she's on her feet. Steven got her out of the jumper in time." She paused, and John knew she was surveying the scene. "It looks like everyone made it out. Daniel is running over here. I'm sure you can guess why."

Gabby helped Grace to her feet just in time for her father to sweep her up into his arms and hold her tightly. She got the feeling that Danny was going to be doing a lot of that while they tried to figure out their next steps. The Pegasus Galaxy was full of surprises and horrors, just like any other place, except that they were fairly unversed in all of them. She wondered if there was any way to keep him from having a heart attack every time he had to leave Grace in the care of others. Probably not. Gabby leaned down and gave John a hand back up, leading him back to the fallen tree he had been sitting on. The poor man was obviously frustrated at needing help, and at the same time, not being able to help the people he cared about. She hoped that his recovery went quickly, for his heart's sake if nothing else.

Danny clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you, Sheppard."

It was a simple show of gratitude, but Gabby could see that it was what John had needed. A little proof that he was contributing, even if it wasn't in the bigger ways that he was used to. 

"They're coming back for a second hit!" Teyla warned. 

Gabby looked around for a place for them to hide, but apparently Lorne had different ideas. Most everything had been salvaged from the jumper, and that included a rocket launcher they'd never had much of an excuse to use. The major handled the weapon with ease, though, and he sighted the ship that was doing its level best to kill them. The rocket blasted out of the gun and shot upward, its aim true. The ship blasted into a million pieces that came crashing to the ground a little ways away from them. Lorne quickly reloaded, his eyes on the sky, but everything was silent now. 

Elizabeth's commanding voice cut through everyone's shock at what had just happened. "Ronon, take Teyla and Lorne with you to check out the debris. Make sure no one crawled out and is deciding on how best to hit back. Learn whatever you can. The rest of us will pull into the trees a little ways for more cover.

Gabby couldn't help but smile as Ronon nodded and the three of them immediately ran off in the direction of the crash. Elizabeth may have spent a significant amount of time away from Atlantis, but she was still a leader in everyone's eyes. With John out of commission temporarily, she was exactly what they needed.

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Steve sat with his back against a tree, gaze lost in the dying embers from their dinner fire. The night was dark and heavy, pressing in on them from all sides as though it wanted to erase them from existence all together. He knew that it was just the anxiety of the situation weighing on him, but he still couldn’t shake the feeling. Everything had changed so much in the past twenty-four hours, and it was the second time in less than six months that the life he had known was completely destroyed. They hadn’t been on Atlantis for long, but they had fallen into a rhythm and were starting to get their feet under them again. Now they were going to have to start all over.

They weren’t alone this time, though. Dragging his eyes away from the fire, he looked at the people around him. Most were sleeping, though Teyla was sitting on the other side of camp, keeping watch like Steve was. Lieutenant Cadman had finally fought her way out of the woods, and Carson had announced to them over their meager dinner that she was going to make it. The relief had been palpable, and much needed after everything they’d been through.

Steve recognized that their surviving group was made up entirely of fighters. Not necessarily physically - he didn’t think Carson, Malia, or Radek could do much in the way of hand-to-hand combat - but definitely emotionally. Even Grace wasn’t exempt from that, though that fact didn’t really surprise him. He saw a lot of Danny in her and she was holding up better than anyone could have asked for. There had been tears, but there hadn’t been any despair, and that was what mattered. 

Things would get better once Sheppard got his sight back. It wasn’t that Ronon, Lorne, or Steve himself couldn’t make the military decisions - each one of them was trained for things like this. John was the leader. It had been like that when Steve arrived in Atlantis, and he knew that the rest of the group was comfortable with that status quo. 

His eyes wandered over to the woman sleeping beside Sheppard. Steve really hadn’t gotten a chance to get to know Elizabeth Weir too well, but from what he could see so far, she was held in high respect. Her instructions concerning the enemy ship had come naturally and they had made good sense. The group didn’t care that Elizabeth hadn’t commanded Atlantis in years. She was their leader. He got the feeling that once she and John were leading together, everyone would breathe a collective sigh of relief. It was just the way things were supposed to be. 

There was quiet movement to his left, and then Kono appeared out of the darkness. Steve tensed at the sight of her, but at the same time, he wasn't all that surprised to see her. It only took one look at her lately to know that she wasn't sleeping well - and that was _before_ the attack on Atlantis.

"I'm not supposed to be relieved for another two hours," he said quietly as she sat down beside him. He couldn't help but notice the space she left between them.

"I know. Got sick of lying there staring up at the trees."

"You need your rest, though."

She gave a quiet snort. "We both know how elusive that can be. Especially lately."

Steve nodded, unsure of what else to say. His conversation with Danny back on Atlantis came back to him. His friend had urged him to talk to Kono. It wasn't that he didn't want to. He did, so much so that it caught him off-guard. Every time he opened his mouth, though, he saw the look on her face when they lost Chin. He may have done the right thing by putting him down, but Steve feared that he had ultimately ruined whatever friendship he had with Kono. That thought cut him deeply and his chest tightened. 

"We were lucky," Kono said suddenly, her voice low.

"What?"

"We were lucky. We got enough supplies from the Alpha site before the Wraith got there and destroyed it. We have some food, more weapons, extra clothes, enough tents for us all. We have a chance at actually making it."

Steve nodded, though he wasn't sure she could see it in the darkness. He had gone through the nearby Stargate earlier that day with Ronon, Carson, and Elizabeth. None of them were actually foolish enough to believe that the location of the Alpha site had remained a secret from their attackers. Kolya had been in the city and had gotten to the computers before the self-destruct had been executed. Whether the bastard had gotten out before the explosion was beside the point - information traveled quickly and easily and Kolya had most likely shared it with whomever he'd coordinated the attack with. That meant that the Alpha site was no longer a viable place for them to settle down. It had been fully loaded with supplies though, and they sorely needed those. 

"They completely destroyed it," he observed. "I think we can count on the Wraith doing their best to hunt us down."

Kono gave a little shrug. "That's not really so different from usual, though."

"Point."

"What about Kolya? Sheppard seems pretty nervous about whether or not he survived the explosion."

Steve thought about it for a minute. "From the way Sheppard describes him, I think it would be foolish to assume that he's dead. He seems to have a fixation on Sheppard - and Weir, really - and now that he's working with the Wraith, he's got more resources at hand." He paused. "That body we found in the crashed ship is bothering me, too."

It had been immediately obvious that there was something different about the body. Ronon had carried it back to camp for Carson to look over, but it ended up being a joint venture between the doctor and Zelenka. Metal and computer components had been introduced into the body, replacing an arm, an eye, and a hip. The electronics had shorted out in the crash, but as Zelenka looked them over, he pronounced that they were highly advanced and made whomever they were attached to a much more dangerous adversary. Enhanced eyesight mixed with bio-mechanical sensors, increased strength...if people like this had filled Kolya's army, then it wasn't a surprise that they had been able to kill so many in Atlantis. 

"The Wraith experimented on Weir and Danny," Steve continued. "It's not a stretch to think that when Kolya teamed up with them, he got some upgrades as well."

Kono couldn't completely suppress the shudder that ran up her spine. "Just what we need."

They both fell silent again. Neither was the type to fill the air with useless words just to make themselves feel better, and the space between them was both comfortable and painful. Steve hurt every time he looked at her, but he would never have asked her to move away, and he was glad when she sat by his side for the rest of his watch. 

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John had never been a big fan of mornings. The military hadn't really given him a choice in the matter, though, so he had learned to deal with it ages ago. And no matter how much his brain didn't like five a.m., his body didn't really have a problem with it, especially when they were in new territory and Wraith were hunting them down. His mind, slower to get with the program, took a few extra minutes to brush away the nighttime fog and then his eyes were finally fluttering open, squinting slightly against the early sunrise this planet had. 

He froze, forcing his eyes to stay open as he stared at the tree branches swaying overhead. 

Elizabeth shifted at his side, somehow alerted to the tension in his body. "John?" she asked, her voice muffled as she struggled to come awake. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head head, almost giddy when the things in his vision moved with him. "I can see," he whispered.

She sat up immediately, sleep falling away from her completely. "What?"

A small smile tugged at his mouth. "I can see."

Elizabeth leaned over him then, putting her face right in his line of sight. John's smile grew as he finally laid eyes on her for the first time in three days and one of his hands came up to touch the hair falling over her shoulder. 

"'Lizabeth," he whispered.

His hand moved from her hair to her face, fingers tracing the lines there. Usually looking at her for too long caused him pain at the guilt he still carried, but this time the relief overwhelmed everything else. She was right there and now he could _see_ her.

Elizabeth was smiling, too, and she shook her head slightly at him, her eyes moist. Leaning down, she pressed a lingering kiss to his cheek and then a quick one on his lips before pulling back and sitting back up.

"You know what this means, don't you?" she asked, one eyebrow arched in typical fashion.

He was still off-kilter from the touch of her lips against his. "What?"

"No more lazing around for you."

Her response broke the spell and he laughed before giving her a smirk. "Does this mean I get my gun back?"

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Elizabeth sighed as she splashed cool water from the stream on her face. She found herself torn between the desire to completely despair over their circumstances and an immense thankfulness for the things that they had. John's sight coming back to him that morning was a huge help for everyone's spirit, and the camp felt lighter. Ronon seemed especially relieved to have his friend healthy again and Grace had given him a big hug. Any piece of good news was counted as a gain these days. 

"Elizabeth?"

She started slightly at the voice, turning to see Teyla stepping out of the woods.

"I'm sorry," the Athosian said quietly. "I did not mean to startle you or to intrude on your private time."

Elizabeth waved a hand at her. "Don't worry about it. Besides, I'm not sure any of us really gets 'private time' anymore."

"Though we should be careful not to lose things such as that. It can be very important for keeping one focused and sane."

"That is very true. Was there something you needed, or were you just out for a walk?"

"I was hoping I could speak with you, actually. It is something I believe should be brought up to the group, but I wanted to talk it over with you first."

She was touched that Teyla had chosen to come to her before the group. She gestured toward a couple of rocks and the two of them sat down.

“Of course. What’s on your mind?”

“With the Alpha site compromised, I think it is safe to say that we do not have a specific destination in mind at the moment.”

“That’s true,” Elizabeth agreed. “It’s definitely something we’re going to have to figure out soon.”

“But it would be safe to assume that we are not going to remain here, since our attackers know that we came to this planet.”

“I agree. I imagine we’ll move on at first light tomorrow. The only thing really holding us back is Cadman, but John and Carson have been discussing making a stretcher to carry her.”

Teyla nodded. “You know that there are many different cultures in the Pegasus Galaxy - many more than any of us could even conceive of. We are sure to run into cultures that clash with our own, which I’m afraid could lead to some...unpleasant altercations.”

Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed. “Do you have an idea on how to minimize those altercations?”

“I do.” She took a long breath, as though she were still weighing her words. “You know that women are highly valued among my people. They had no issue with a woman leading them and being her own person.”

“Of course. We saw that many times with your people.”

“Unfortunately, not all other cultures are so enlightened. Women are viewed as...as property. As something to be conquered and owned. There is not a weak-willed woman among us, Elizabeth. And I am afraid that perhaps some cultures will see independent women who speak their mind as a challenge to be dominated.”

“So you’re saying that some men will see unmarried women as something to be bridled...and they might attack us?”

“Yes,” Teyla replied. “I know of some such cultures. It is acceptable and even expected for men to forcefully take the women that they want. If none of our women appear to be unmarried, then they will have less reason to try and cause any trouble.” She paused. “It would not take much to pull off such a ruse,” she added. “Simply sharing tents and introducing us as wives should do the trick. I simply want to make sure that we are protected.”

Elizabeth gave her a reassuring smile. “I know, Teyla. And honestly, I’m glad you thought of this. I get the feeling that we have no idea what’s in store for us. If we can worry less about being kidnapped or forcefully taken as wives, that would be very helpful.” She got to her feet. “Come on. We might as well break it to the group now.”

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“You’re joking, right?” Mary asked.

She was the only one who spoke up when Elizabeth and Teyla brought their suggestion before the group. Most of the men shifted uncomfortably, but Elizabeth didn’t think it was because they were adverse to the plan. The sidelong glances they were shooting at their female counterparts said that they were more worried about what _they_ would have to say about the whole thing. 

Mary answered her own question. “You’re not joking, are you?” She sighed. “Great. So we’re all gonna be fake married?”

“I suppose you could get married for real, if you wanted to,” Gabby said. “Though Steven might want to break the poor man’s face. I get the feeling he’d be an overly protective big brother.”

Mary rolled her eyes with a smile. “I have noticed those tendencies in him.”

“Shocking.” Gabby got to her feet and stood in the middle of the group. “What Teyla and Elizabeth have said is important. I think for the safety of the camp and each other, we can deal with sharing tents and making googly eyes at each other if necessary?”

There were a few chuckles and nods before Lorne spoke up.

“I don’t think you’re going to find any of the guys unwilling,” he said. “Just tell us who we’re paired up with and we’ll go with it.”

“Now hold on a minute,” Carson cut in. “I realize that these are fake marriages, but it could still cause some awkwardness. I think the women should choose who they’d like to be paired up with. It’s their safety we’re most concerned with, after all.”

No one had any objections to that, but no one made the first move to claim anyone, either. Gabby sighed and rolled her eyes, about to open her mouth, when Gracie beat her to it.

“You’re gonna stay with me and Danno, right Gabby?”

She fought down a small blush and glanced at Danny, who was staring right at her. A small smile tugged at his lips and she nodded.

“Of course, darling. As long as your father thinks he can handle the both of us in one tent.”

“I think I’m up to the challenge,” he replied.

The blush wouldn’t go away and she gave up trying. Turning away from him, she nodded at Teyla.

“Am I right to assume that you’ll be staying with Ronon? Or have you grown tired of your Satedan warrior? You could always use this opportunity to try someone else out,” she teased.

Teyla glanced at Ronon. “I believe I shall keep him. For now, anyway.”

Gabby fixed her gaze on Elizabeth. “You’re pretty much a given as well, right darling?”

Elizabeth noticed the way John tensed at the question. For a moment she was afraid that he didn’t want to be paired with her. She did her best to quell the panic in the pit of her stomach. Things had been going well between them lately - at least, she had thought so. 

“Elizabeth?” Gabby pressed.

She gave John a nervous smile. “I hope you don’t mind being stuck with me.”

He met her gaze and she forced herself to relax. She had always been able to read him; she wasn’t going to let two years apart change that. Once her own insecurities were pushed aside, Elizabeth realized that he was afraid she _wasn’t_ going to pick him. The relief in his eyes made her smile grow.

“It’s probably better this way,” he replied. “Now I won’t have to keep asking about you and threatening whoever you were paired with.”

“Trust me, ma’am,” Lorne interrupted, “it’s not pretty when Sheppard’s worried about you. I’ve been on the receiving end of the interrogation whenever you came off-world with my team.”

John had the decency to look slightly embarrassed about that, but Gabby let him off the hook and moved on. 

“Malia?”

“I’d like to stay with Carson.” She shrugged as she looked over at him. “If that’s alright, of course.”

“It’s wonderful,” Carson replied, the smile on his face warm and genuine. “It’s a pleasure to know I’ll be sharing a tent with someone I can have a civilized conversation with.”

Gabby took a few seconds to study the last three women. She was fairly certain that Kono and Cadman could be a problem. There was something strange and painful in the air between Kono and Steve, despite the fact that they were close friends. Cadman felt like a burden at the moment, and had tried convincing a few people that they should just leave her behind because she was going to slow them down. Lorne had threatened to gag her at that point. Mary McGarrett was the wild card. She probably wasn’t going to pick Steve, since he was her brother, but she might choose Lorne. Gabby had her reasons for wanting to avoid that. She decided to take a gamble.

“Laura?” she asked, turning to where Cadman was lying by the fire pit. “How about you?” 

“And before you ask,” Lorne cut in, “nobody is leaving you behind. So just pick somebody and deal with it.”

Laura glowered at him. “Watch it, flyboy. I’ll pick you.”

“Good,” he nodded. “It’s decided, then.”

“What? Wait -”

“You heard her say it, didn’t you?” Lorne asked Gabby. “She chose me.”

“That’s what I heard,” she confirmed. “Thank you, Laura.” She didn’t give the redhead anytime to object. “Mary?”

“I’m good with Radek here,” she said, patting the scientist on the knee. 

He muttered something in Czech that Gabby didn’t quite catch. “What was that?”

“Nothing,” Radek replied. “I think Mary Ann likes to see how badly she can shock me with the things she says. Now she’ll have ample opportunity to give me a heart attack.”

“But what a way to go,” Mary quipped.

Gabby laughed before turning to Kono. “I assume you’re good with Steven?”

There was a tightness to her expression, and Steve looked a little pale, but Kono nodded. “Yeah, of course. Someone’s gotta keep an eye on him.”

“And I think you’re the perfect woman for the job.” She took a deep breath, glad that that was over and done with. “Now, Radek was mentioning to me something about a legend in Atlantean history that he found. It might be relevant to us, especially since it’s probably not the best idea to stay here much longer.”

Everyone's attention immediately turned to Radek.

"Well don't leave us hanging, Zelenka," John said. "Right now we're sitting ducks."

"Of course," Radek said, pushing his glasses up higher on nose. "Well, I've been going through the Ancient database lately. Not for any particular reason, really. Well, that's not entirely true. I started going through it more deeply once we learned that the Wraith were looking to experiment on Replicators and we discovered that they had both Elizabeth and Detective Williams..."

"There's a point to this, right?" Ronon asked.

"Yes. I'm sorry." He took a deep breath. "I did not find what I was looking for, but I _did_ find multiple references to a...well, a sister city to Atlantis."

There were multiple frowns around the group. John was the first to speak, though. 

"Didn't we already find one of those? The Replicators built one in their ridiculous quest to replace the Ancients."

Danny held up a hand. "There was a second Atlantis?"

Gabby leaned over. "Later, darling. It's a long story and John lacks patience," she said quietly.

He nodded. "Right. Carry on, then."

"Technically," Radek continued, "the city that the Replicators built on Asuras was just that...a replica. The city that was referenced in the database was built by the Ancients as a _twin_. From what I could gather, it wasn't as heavily populated as Atlantis, but it was completely operational. I believe that it may have served as a backup in case the city ever fell."

"But wouldn't the Ancients have gone there during the war with the Wraith instead of ascending or going to Earth?" Ronon asked. 

Radek shrugged. "Perhaps some of them did. It's not like we have a list of all the Ancients and where they went."

"So where is this place?"

"That would be where the problem lies. Because they were afraid of others learning the location of this city, it was never explicitly named in the database. There are a series of clues that should lead us there, but they must be followed in order." He paused. "That is assuming, of course, that this city indeed exists and wasn't just a myth. Or that it hasn't been destroyed over the years."

Silence fell over the camp as everyone tried to digest the information. Elizabeth and John shared a long look, weighing their options in that silent way that had always marked their leadership in the city. No one else voiced any opinions, and Elizabeth realized that they were waiting for her and John.

"Radek," John started, "you said that the location is hidden in a series of clues?"

"Yes."

"And do you have the first clue?"

"Yes. We're lucky, actually. They're not in any sort of riddle format. The first clue is a Gate address. I'm assuming that we just go there and the second clue will be there."

No one mentioned that finding that second clue could prove to be extremely difficult.

John shrugged as he turned back to Elizabeth. "It's not like we really have any alternative options."

"I agree," she said. "Tomorrow at first light, we'll go through the Gate."

Everyone nodded, and there was a small sense of relief. Things weren't perfect, but there was at least a first step forward now, and it gave them all something to focus on.

"Rest up, everyone," Elizabeth suggested. "I think we're going to have some very long days ahead of us."

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Carson straightened back up, letting out a long breath. "You're healing remarkably well, my dear," he said to Gabby. "Quite a bit faster than I would have expected, but I guess it looked quite a bit worse than it actually was."

She rotated her injured shoulder a few times. "Feels a lot better, too," she replied. "It's not healing _too_ fast, right? I shouldn't be freaked out?"

He chuckled and shook his head. "No, no. You should be just fine. Just try not to agitate it too much before it's fully healed."

"I'll do my best."

Carson patted her knee and then stepped out of the tent just as Danny was coming in. The two men greeted each other and then Danny stood in the middle of the tent, hands on his hips as he stared down at her.

"Well?"

Gabby rolled her eyes. "Doctor Beckett says I'm healing very well, Daniel. You can ask him yourself." She looked past him. "Where's Grace?"

He hooked a thumb over his shoulder. "Hanging out with her Uncle Steve and Aunt Kono. Kono is telling old Hawaiian legends and Gracie is giggling like..."

"Like a little school girl?"

Danny chuckled. "Yeah, something like that." He came over and sat down on the cot next to her. “So, I was wondering something...”

Gabby smirked. “Shocker.”

For a second, she thought he was going to stick his tongue out at her, but instead he just shook his head. “You’re allowed to tell me this is none of my business, but...Ronon and Teyla. Are they...you know...?” He gestured vaguely with one hand.

Chuckling, she nodded. “Yes, Ronon and Teyla are lovers. They have been for some time now. Everyone knows, but no one makes a big deal about it.”

“They seem to make sense.”

“They really do. And what was wonderful was that they didn’t make a big fuss about it like a lot of people do, you know? There was a connection and attraction and they were together. There was none of that petty jealousy or a relationship defining talk. They know where they stand and what they mean to one another and that trumps everything.”

“A functional relationship,” Danny mused. “Been awhile since I’ve see one of those.”

She looked over at this man she had come to care about a great deal in the past couple of months. She knew that Grace had lost her mother when Earth fell, but Gabby also knew that there was a lot more to that story than anyone was sharing. If it had been Steve, she wouldn’t have pressed. The man had defensive walls built to withstand an army. Danny, though...she wondered if maybe talking about it might make him feel better. 

“What about Grace’s mum?” she asked quietly, carefully. “Did you not have a functional relationship?”

The question didn’t seem to catch him off-guard. His expression turned sad and he looked down at his hands, leaning forward to rest his arms on top of his thighs. 

“We were for awhile,” he finally answered, his voice subdued, not looking at her. “We, uh...we got divorced a few years ago. She moved to Hawaii with her new husband...that’s why I moved there. I wasn’t going to let my daughter out of my life.” Danny paused, breathing deeply, and Gabby noticed that his hands were shaking slightly. “When this whole thing broke out, Steve sent me to get Grace and Rachel. The island was falling apart, but he knew...he knew that I needed to make sure my baby girl was safe. When I got to the house...Grace was screaming for help and Rachel...” His voice caught and Gabby reached over, laying her hand over both of his. “She was already turned,” he said, his voice a hoarse whisper. “She was turned, and she was trying to break down Grace’s door so that she could infect her, too.”

His voice broke. Gabby placed her free hand on his, moving the other up to his shoulders, rubbing circles over his upper back. She felt him shudder beneath her touch.

“You did what you had to do, Daniel,” she murmured. Her hand moved up to the base of his neck, fingers ghosting across the bottom of his hairline. “You had no choice.”

He looked up at her then, eyes red and raw and angry. “I shot the mother of my child,” he bit out.

Gabby met his gaze without flinching. “You shot the thing that killed her and you saved your daughter. Do you really think Rachel would have wanted you to do anything less?”

“Doesn’t matter,” he muttered, the anger gone. “My little girl doesn’t have her mother anymore because I put a bullet in her head.”

“You do realize that if Steven were sitting here saying these things, and you were in my position, you’d be telling him to put away his guilt complex, right?”

His shoulders shook with a quiet, tired chuckle. “That does sound like something I would say.”

“I’m fairly certain I’ve heard you say it before.” She paused. “You’re doing a good job, Daniel. You’ve kept your daughter safe through extraordinary circumstances, and she’s okay. Not just physically, either. She’s dealing and she’s becoming stronger because of it. And she has _you_ to thank for that.”

“You really think she’s okay?”

“I know she is,” Gabby said firmly. “And we’ll get her through whatever comes our way. I promise.” He nodded and she smiled, running her fingers through his hair once more. “You should go get her. Tomorrow’s a big day and we all need some sleep.”

Danny nodded again and pushed himself to his feet, heading for the tent flap. Halfway there he stopped, turning back around.

“Wanna come?”

She got up and fell into step beside him. “I’d love to.”

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Weeks went by. Laura’s leg healed and she was able to walk with the aid of a cane instead of being carried on the stretcher. Eventually she was even able to put that away, though there was still a small limp in her step when it rained. Those with experience took turns hunting, making sure that there was fresh game in the camp whenever possible. They ate surprisingly well, but they were a well-rounded group with enough various skills to keep them well above the survival level. 

Sometimes tempers flared, but that was to be expected. Though there was a destination in mind, no one knew how exactly to get there or how long it was going to take. And in the back of everyone’s mind was the nagging doubt that the twin city didn’t exist at all, and that they would find themselves wandering forever. 

The first Gate address they tried brought them to a wooded planet that looked much like many of the others the Atlantis expedition had explored. The first four villages they visited didn’t have a clue about the twin city, but they had some luck on their fifth try. An old doctor obviously knew something, but at first he didn’t seem willing to tell them.

“You’re missin’ an important part of the equation,” he told them. “How do I know you’re not enemies lookin’ to destroy it?”

John turned to look at Zelenka. “I don’t suppose there was a password with that Gate address, was there?”

The scientist shook his head. “No. It was just the address.”

“Clavia Tenara,” Elizabeth muttered. 

Everyone turned to stare at her. 

“What was that?” John asked.

“Remember when we met that version of me from the future?”

He frowned slightly. “The one that stayed behind on the city to make sure it surfaced when we powered up the systems.”

“Exactly. She was the one who gave us the Gate addresses for the ZPMs.”

“Right. I’m not seeing how that helps us here.”

“The addresses weren’t the only thing she gave me. There was a second slip of paper. She said that if the worst happened, I would need what was on that piece of paper to get my people to safety. Clavia Tenara. That’s what was on it.”

The old man smiled at her. “And that’s the missing puzzle piece.” He went over to his fire pit and moved one of the rocks. Digging into the dirt, he pulled out a small box. “Here you go.”

Elizabeth took the box from him carefully. “The Ancients set up an underground system of guardians for the information?”

He nodded. “None of us knows who holds the next clue.”

“Couldn’t you just read the clue?” Ronon asked.

“No. And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t read it in front of me. The less I know, the less someone could get out of me.”

“Thank you,” Elizabeth told him before turning and walking away from his tent. 

The others followed, slightly confused, but she didn’t say something until they reached the safety of their own camp. Sitting down on the grass, she gestured for John to join her, ignoring the questions coming from the rest of the group. Opening the box, she showed him what was inside and John frowned.

“It’s blank,” he complained.

Elizabeth just smirked at him. “Pick it up.”

As soon as his fingers touched the paper, symbols came to life across it. John shook his head as he stared at it. Of course the Ancients hadn’t just used normal paper. They had used another technological device that only reacted when in contact with someone who had the ATA gene. 

And now they had their next address.

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That was how their travel progressed as time went on. They traveled to each address and searched out anyone who knew about the hidden city. Sometimes they struck gold in the first village they came across. Other times the planet seemed all but abandoned and they found themselves tracking down any living person they could. There was more than one hermit living in a cave or underground, who had only stayed on the planet because they were the guardian of the clue. John found himself wondering who would have taken over for them after they died, if there was no one else there. 

Kono sighed as she looked around the planet they were currently trekking across. The humidity and lush undergrowth reminded her of home, and her stomach actually ached with a longing to be back there. It wasn't just that she had loved Hawaii, but it represented a simpler time in her life. Chin had been alive. Grace had had her mother. And she and Steve could say more than three sentences to each other without underlying tension threatening to choke them. She knew that it had been weakness that had rendered her incapable of putting Chin down. She had thought she could do it. She _should_ have been able to do it. Looking into his eyes in those last moments had told her that her cousin was no longer in there. The monster had killed him and taken over, and she needed to release him. She hadn't been able to pull the trigger, though, and because of her weakness, Steve had had to do it for her. She had forced another burden onto his shoulders, when she already knew that he carried too much. It hadn't been fair. But she didn't know how to properly apologize for it, how to make amends. And for his part, Steve couldn't look in her in the eye. 

Her eyes moved from Steve to Malia. With everything that they had been through in the past couple of months, Kono hadn't had a chance to really talk to her old friend. It didn't help that she knew she owed Malia a huge apology. Chin had only just told her that it was him who had broken off the engagement, instead of the other way around. Kono had spent a long time hating Malia for abandoning her cousin, and the truth had come as a painful shock to her. She had planned on making things right with the woman, but things had just snowballed and she'd never made the time for it. The other woman busied herself with helping Carson, but Kono knew that she had to be in a lot of pain. She had loved Chin right until the end, and she had been in the room when he'd been shot. Kono promised herself that when they stopped for the night, she would take the woman aside and apologize. She missed her friend, and she wanted to be there for her. She knew from experience that carrying the pain alone was enough to crush a person.

Steve caught her attention again and Kono looked at him closely, frowning when he rubbed at his chest for the third time in the past five minutes. Letting herself fall back until she was walking next to him, she leaned in closer.

"What's wrong?" she asked quietly.

He shook his head. "I feel weird."

She knew it had to be a lot more than that for Steve to have said anything in the first place. "Weird how?"

Rolling his shoulders, he made a pained face. "My chest hurts."

He was too young for a heart attack, but that didn't keep fear from coiling in the pit of her stomach. None of them really knew anything about the habitats they were traipsing through, and any one of them could catch something deadly.

"How bad?" she asked, trying to keep the worry out of her voice. "And use a normal person's scale, not your crazy SEAL scale."

Steve grunted, face twisting as he grimaced. "More than a little. I can't...I can't really breathe."

"I'll go get Malia. We'll stop and take a break -"

A sudden cry pierced the jungle and both Steve and Kono watched in horror as Danny fell to his knees up ahead of them. Gabby was by his side in an instant, passing Grace over to Mary. Kono moved towards him, but spun around when Laura Cadman cried out as well, collapsing to the floor. Sheppard was the next to go down, his voice raw, and then Steve went down on one knee, unable to keep himself going. 

They only had two doctors, and there were four members of their group down. Kono took a second to be thankful that no one else seemed to in any trouble and then her attention was fully focused on Steve. He writhed across the ground as though he were in a lot of pain, his back arching up sharply. Kono cradled his head as she stared at him helplessly. 

"Tell me how to help," she whispered desperately. "I don't know how to help you."

"Can't...breathe..." he forced out, one hand reaching blindly for her.

Kono caught his hand and then pressed the other to his chest, and that was when she felt it. Pulling his shirt up, she saw the vines wrapped around his torso, seeming to grow and tighten right before her eyes. 

"They're being crushed!" she yelled, never looking away from him. "Pull up their shirts!"

She already had her knife in hand and she carefully sawed at one of the vines. The blade didn't even make a scratch, though, and Kono felt hopelessness coursing through her. She looked up with wet eyes to see Lorne pulling at the vines on Laura, but with the same lack of results. 

A twig snapped somewhere off to her left and Ronon and Teyla spun, guns raised. Kono wondered what could possibly be coming at them now; four of their strongest people were down, and she knew they were in no shape to fight anyone off.

The two people who came out of the trees didn't appear to be a threat, though. Both dark-skinned and bald, they wore robes that made her think of a Buddhist monk. They held their hands open and to the side, letting them see that they held no weapons. 

"Who are you?" Ronon asked, still holding his gun tightly.

"We are here to help you," one of them said, his voice impossibly deep. "We know that which afflicts your friends. I am Tel'Aram. This is Bo'orah. We live in this place."

"What's happening to them?" Elizabeth asked, her voice tight and strained. 

"It is the Orah-Shor," Tel'Aram replied. "The Guilt. This jungle feeds on those who whose burdens are heavy and chokes them with it." He looked at those who were on the ground. "Come. We do not have much time and we need to get your friends to a safer place. This area is not somewhere you want to be come nightfall."

Elizabeth looked over at Gabby and the blonde woman nodded. They had no other options. They lacked the local knowledge to be of any help, and these men appeared to be unarmed and friendly. 

"Can you help us carry them?" Elizabeth asked.

Tel'Aram nodded. "Of course."

Ronon picked up John and slung him over one shoulder, obviously not comfortable with anyone else carrying his friend. Gabby went into one of the supply bags and pulled out the stretcher they had used for Cadman originally. This time, though, it was for Steve. Kono took one end while Bo'Orah used rope to secure him and then picked up the other. Lorne swept Cadman up into his arms easily, and Tel'Aram gathered Danny up.

"Come," he said quietly. "Our temple is not far."

The monk was true to his word, and ten minutes later they were walking up a slope that led to a large stone temple. The stone was a dusty red color and it rose out of the jungle like a sentient being keeping watch. Despite that, there was nothing forbidding about it. Colorful flowers decorated window ledges and filled the gardens all across the grounds. Though there were some trees, it looked as though they worked hard to keep the jungle at bay.

Tel’Aram led them down a long hallway, deeper into the heart of the temple. They passed many other monks as they went, all different shades of skin color and hair length. The only apparent dress code was the robe - otherwise it looked as though these men were from many different walks of life. 

Soon they reached a large circular room with doors all around it. Two other monks were there - one short, with wispy grey hair and glasses, the other much younger and more broadly built - and they immediately got to their feet. 

The short one took one look at the four writhing patients and grimaced. “The Orah-Shor?”

Tel’Aram nodded. “Let us get them into rooms.”

John, Steve, Laura, and Danny were placed in separate rooms, on soft beds. The sheets were white and crisp, and there was a small table near the bed with a cold pitcher of water on it. 

“I know that you are worried,” Tel’Aram said, “but we need explain the Orah-Shor to you so that you might help them.”

He led them back out into the circular room and then turned to face them, not wasting any time. 

“I have already told you that your friends are suffering from the Orah-Shor - the Guilt. The burden is too great for them, and the jungle is actually feeding off of them.”

Gabby shook her head. “I don’t get it. I don’t think there’s one person in this group who doesn’t have guilt. Why aren’t we all suffering?”

“The guilt that your friends are wracked with is so deep, so pervasive, that it threatens to choke them every day. It takes a concerted effort to push it aside enough to function, to get through each moment. It is so palpable that the jungle recognized it as soon as they set foot inside of it. It will feed on them until there is nothing left and they are dead.”

“Well that’s just not acceptable,” she replied. “So how do we fix it?”

It was Bo’Orah who spoke this time. His voice was not as deep as his companion’s, but there was a certain gravity to it that pulled the listener in. “This temple was erected to stand against the jungle. Though there is a time and a place for guilt, it means nothing without forgiveness. And we have found that it is forgiveness that can destroy the vines that seek to kill.” He paused. “There have been many travelers over the years, many trying to escape a past that will not leave them be. Unfortunately, the person whom they believed they wronged is not usually with them. And without that person being there to offer forgiveness, no cure can be had.”

“What if it’s more than one person?” Kono asked. “Steve’s been carrying some serious guilt for most of his life.”

“It is usually one guilt that outweighs the others.”

“Think there’s any chance they’ll actually tell us what’s guilting them?” Lorne asked. 

Ronon shrugged. “We already know what it is for Sheppard.”

Elizabeth frowned. “We do?”

The Satedan nodded. “You. He never forgave himself for leaving you behind. And it doesn’t help that the only reason we found you was because Williams went missing.” He paused. “He still doesn’t think you trust him. And he doesn’t think he deserves your trust.”

“I know what’s eating at Daniel,” Gabby offered. “At least, I’m fairly certain that I do.” She turned to Kono. “Do you think he would know what’s weighing on Steven?”

“If anyone does, it’s him,” she replied. 

“I’m just gonna ask Laura,” Lorne said. “Not really sure we’ve got any other option there.”

Gabby squeezed his arm as she led Grace back toward Danny’s room. “Good luck. To all of you.”

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Danny was writhing against the bed, his back arching and his expression pained. The monks had removed his shirt and they could see the vines tightening their hold around him. Sweat coated his forehead, plastering his hair. 

“Gabby?” Grace asked, her voice small.

“Yes, darling?”

“Can you fix Danno?”

“I’m going to try, love.” She stepped up to the side of the bed and brushed back his hair. “Daniel. Daniel, I need you to look at me.”

He forced his eyes open and turned to her, but didn’t speak.

“The monks told us what’s hurting you. It’s guilt, Daniel. You’re carrying around something that’s eating away at you and you need to let it go.” She paused. “You have to tell Grace.”

Danny frowned and shook his head. “No,” he said, his voice hoarse.

“Daniel, you have to. The only cure for this is forgiveness, and you feel that you’ve wronged your daughter. If you don’t tell her, you’ll die.”

He shook his head again, more forcefully this time. “What if she doesn’t?”

“Forgive you?” Danny nodded and Gabby softened her tone. “Oh, Daniel, she will. She loves you.”

“She won’t...she won’t if she knows.”

Gabby sighed and squared her shoulders. “Either you tell her, or I will.”

Danny’s eyes hardened. “Don’t you dare.”

“Those are you two options. Choose.”

“I trusted you,” he rasped. “You can’t -”

“Then trust me to do the right thing here. Grace needs you and you’re being selfish right now.” She turned to the little girl standing next to her. “Come on, Grace. I need to tell you something and then we’ll be able to fix Danno, okay?”

Danny struggled as they headed for the door, as though he was going to get up and stop them. “I will never forgive you,” he forced out, his voice raw and pained. 

Gabby stopped to look over her shoulder at him. “And I will always mourn our friendship,” she said quietly.

Then she took Grace from the room and shut the door behind her.

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Tears had started to fall from Grace’s eyes as Gabby pulled her out into the circular room and squatted down in front of her. 

“Gabby, what’s happening?”

She took a deep breath. “Do you understand guilt, Grace? Do you know what that means?”

The little girl sniffed. “Is it like when you feel bad for doing something?”

“Yes, that’s it. This may sound strange, but that jungle that we walked through feeds on those bad feelings. And your father feels very bad about something he had to do, and that’s why the vines are choking him.”

“How do we make them stop?”

Gabby paused, thinking through her words carefully. “Do you remember when you were back in Hawaii and the monsters came? You were trapped in your room and your father came to save you?”

Grace nodded. “Mrs. Puoau was trying to hurt me. Because the monsters got her and made her sick.”

“Yes, they did. But darling...the monsters also got your mum. It wasn’t just Mrs. Puoau banging on your door and trying to get in.”

Grace frowned as she tried to put the pieces together. “Mommy too?”

Gabby nodded. “Your Danno told you that the monsters got her, right?” Grace nodded. “They did. And she turned into one of them. When your father showed up at your house, he found them both trying to get into your room.”

Grace was crying more now as she was forced to think back on that day. “I heard a lot of noise outside,” she said, her voice breaking. “Danno made me stay in my room and I heard a gun.” She paused. “I heard it twice.”

Gabby took her face in her hands gently. “He had to save you, darling. And the only way he could get to you was through Mrs. Puoua and your mother.”

She took a shuddering breath, her shoulders shaking. “Danno shot Mommy?”

Heart breaking and tears building up in her own eyes, Gabby didn’t let go of her. “Yes, Grace. But he had to, darling. The monster had killed your mum already. There was no way to save her and he _had_ to save you.”

Gabby watched as the little girl did her best to process the information. She understood why Danny was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to forgive him for killing her mother. At the same time, though, she had faith that Grace could work her way through it. She knew what her father did back on Earth, knew that he carried a gun, knew that sometimes he had to shoot the bad guys to protect people. 

“So...it’s like what Uncle Steve had to do with Uncle Chin?” she finally asked.

A small bubble of relief welled up inside her chest. “Exactly. And you’re not mad at your Uncle Steve for that, are you?”

Grace shook her head. “He had to save Auntie Kono and Malia. Auntie Kono says that Uncle Chin was already gone. That Uncle Steve...that he...re...released him. That’s what she said.” She paused. “Danno released Mommy?” she asked, more sure in the wording now.

“Yes, darling. And that’s what’s choking him. He thinks that if you know, you’ll never be able to forgive him.”

Grace’s frown deepened and then she broke away from Gabby and rushed back into Danny’s room. Clambering up onto the bed, she hugged her father tight as tears fell freely down her face.

“I forgive you, Danno,” she cried. “I forgive you.”

She said the words over and over again, almost willing her father to hear them and believe them. As Gabby watched from the doorway, she saw Danny’s expression was a mixture of heartache and relief. It took a few moments, but slowly his breathing became easier. The vines around his chest loosened their hold. Reaching out, he took a hold of one and pulled it away from his body. It went without any protest, though the marks left behind were angry and red. Dropping the dead plants to the ground, Danny looked up and met Gabby’s gaze. 

“Steven,” she said, not giving him a chance to speak. “We’re not sure what exactly is his main source of guilt.”

Danny swallowed whatever he had been going to say. “He thinks Kono blames him for Chin,” he said, his voice still hoarse.

Gabby nodded and left the room without another word.

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Kono couldn’t get back into the room fast enough. She and Steve were people who didn’t talk about what was bothering them easily. Kono, because she believed it to be a sign of weakness she couldn’t afford, and Steve, because he didn’t think he actually mattered to anyone. It shouldn’t have come to any surprise to her that all this time she’d been thinking Steve was disappointed in her, when he was actually convinced that she blamed him for Chin. 

She had never blamed him.

The vines were tightening mercilessly. At first she had been surprised that they took so long to kill their victim, but Tel’Aram had explained that they needed to suck as much energy and bad feelings out of the person as possible. Which meant that they prolonged the process, turning it into a torture session. As much as she hated seeing her friends in pain, she was thankful for the extra time it gave them. Time to save them.

Steve’s breathing was turning raspy and sweat was streaking down his face. Kono knelt by the side of the bed, running her left hand through his hair as she used her other hand to tilt his face towards her. Leaning in, she moved her mouth closer to his ear.

“I never blamed you,” she whispered. “Not once. You did what I couldn’t, Steve. I wanted to be strong enough. I thought I could do it. I’m so sorry that you had to do it for me. But there’s no one else I would have trusted to put Chin out of his misery. I don’t blame you, Steve. I’m _thankful_ that you were willing to be what I needed when I wasn’t strong enough.”

She had hoped that the words would magically heal him, but Steve refused to even look at her. Kono moved until she was sitting on the bed, hovering over him, and she took his face in both hands, forcing him to meet her eyes. 

“I know you have a lot of things in life you regret,” she said, “and a lot of things you feel guilty for. But Chin was gone. What we faced in that room was just a monster with his face. It had already killed him. He had to be put down. You and I both know that. And I _hate_ that I wasn’t strong enough to do it. He was family and I couldn’t even do the merciful thing. I needed you, and you were right there, just like you always have been.”Kono shook her head. “Danny’s right, you know. You have a face, and right now it’s saying that you don’t believe me. But you know me, Steve. You know I don’t mince words and I don’t lie to make people feel better. I call it like I see it. You told me once it was one of the things you liked about me.” She paused, leaning in to kiss his forehead. “Please, Steve, don’t do this. Danny and Grace and I need you, okay? We need you to stay. Please don’t leave us.” Her voice broke slightly and she kissed his forehead again. “The only person that has ever blamed you in this galaxy is you,” she whispered.

The vines loosened.

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“Alright, Cadman. Spill.”

Laura looked up, frowning in confusion as she struggled to breathe. “Ex...excuse me, sir?”

Lorne rolled his eyes and sat down on her bed, bracing himself with arms on either side of her. “Knock it off with that ‘sir’ crap, okay? You’ve been driving me crazy ever since the city fell.” He paused. “These things?” he said, pointing at the vines. “They feed on guilt. Which means you’re blaming yourself for something. And the only way we can kill these plant bastards is if you tell me what that is.”

He left out the part about forgiveness. Lorne was terrified that the person Laura thought she had wronged was no longer alive. It was more than highly probable, since both Earth and Atlantis were fallen now. He had always liked Cadman, and he was glad that they were sharing a tent while the group searched for their new home. Playing at being married didn’t mean that they were, though, and the lieutenant wasn’t big on opening up about her feelings. He knew something had been bothering her since the attack on the city, but a part of him worried that she just didn’t enjoy being forced to bunk with him. Having an unwanted roommate would grate on anyone’s nerves.

“Is that seriously the only way?” she gritted out through clenched teeth. “Baring my soul? I gotta admit, flyboy...that’s pretty lame.”

She tried to smile at him, but the pain was too much and Lorne could see it all over her face. Leaning down, he smirked at her. 

“C’mon, Cadman. You’re not really gonna let a plant beat you, are you? I thought you were less of a pansy than that.”

His words had the desired effect. Cadman glanced away, struggling to take in a breath before she began speaking.

“When...when the Wraith attacked, none of us knew...we didn’t understand. I had just woken up. I came out into the hall and immediately had to dodge bullets.” She took another wheezing breath. “I had...my weapon, but...not enough ammo. One of...the scientists...didn’t see the Wraith. I jumped him and we crashed out the window, landing on that connecting structure.”

Lorne frowned; he didn’t understand what the Wraith attack had to do with Laura’s guilt. He wisely kept his mouth shut, though, letting her continue her story.

“I couldn’t...the Wraith was too strong and he...he put a knife in my leg. He was about to kill me...but Stackhouse came out, distracted him. They fought. I tried to help...couldn’t get up.” Her breathing started to become more labored. “Stackhouse backed...Wraith up to the edge...pushed...but the Wraith...held on. They both went over.”

This was the first time Lorne was hearing about his friend’s death, but he forced himself to keep his focus on Laura.

“I...caught his hand. The Wraith still had his foot...I couldn’t...I wasn’t strong enough...Stack...Stackhouse told me to let go. I tried...couldn’t lift them both.”

Lorne swallowed roughly. He was proud of Stackhouse for saving Cadman, for doing whatever it took to make sure the Wraith didn’t get her. And it might have sounded odd to someone else, but he was glad his friend had died with dignity. He understood Cadman’s guilt as well - he would have felt the same way - but he wasn’t sure whose forgiveness she needed. Stackhouse was dead. If that was who Laura needed, then there wasn’t a way to save her.

“Laura...”

She turned back to look at him, eyes red. “He...he was your best friend.”

Suddenly, everything clicked. Her refusal to look him in the eye some days. The nights she would slip from their tent and sit by the fire, staring into the dying embers. She felt guilty that she had lived at the expense of Lorne’s best friend. Taking her hand in his, he leaned closer.

“Stackhouse was a soldier, Laura. And a damn good one. He saw a fellow Marine in trouble and he did what he could to help. You would have done the same thing in his place.”

She tried to shake her head. “Should...should have been me.”

Lorne frowned at her. “You think I’d be happier if you were dead and he were still alive? You’re right about one thing, Laura. He was my best friend. And I miss him like hell most days. But I would never trade your life for his. I might miss him, but I’m _glad_ that you’re still here. You’re my friend, too, you know. I _care_ about you.” He paused, reaching out a shaky hand to brush a piece of hair from her face. “The only people I blame for the deaths of my friends are the bastards who killed them. It’s not your fault, Laura. _It’s not your fault._ ”

For a horrifying moment, it looked as though she wasn’t getting any air back into her lungs. Lorne reached out in a panic at the vines, but they had lost their hold, and Laura was able to take a long, shuddering breath. By the time she let it go again, it was accompanied by tears and painful, wordless sobs. For the first time since meeting her, Evan was seeing Laura cry. 

Without even thinking about it, he laid down beside her and pulled her into his arms, rocking her back and forth gently. 

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Things weren’t going as smoothly with John as Elizabeth would have hoped. She thought that she had the advantage, knowing what was weighing on him. But in true Sheppard form, he refused to listen to her. She could see it all over his face - he simply couldn’t bring himself to believe that she forgave him. Words didn’t work, tears didn’t work...Elizabeth was terrified that she was going to lose him.

“This is pathetic, Sheppard,” Ronon said. The Satedan had been standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed over his chest, watching everything unfold. “Do you really think Weir would say she forgives you just to save your life? Look at her. She means every word.”

John just shook his head and looked away, struggling to breathe. Elizabeth didn’t know if she wanted to cry or throttle him. 

“Maybe you don’t deserve forgiveness.”

That made both John and Elizabeth turn to look at their friend. He gave a careless shrug. 

“You’re willing to abandon her again, so maybe you don’t deserve forgiveness for leaving her the first time. You obviously didn’t learn anything.” Ronon pushed away from the door and walked closer. “Which is harder, Sheppard? Believing that Weir actually forgives you, or dying and knowing that you’ve left her alone again? To lead the group to safety all by herself when you should be at her side? Who’s going to protect her when we come up against opposition?” He paused. “What if Kolya’s not dead? What if he comes after her? Is it really easier to die and leave her alone than to look at her and believe what she’s saying?”

It was the most she had ever heard Ronon say in one go, and it gave her hope that John might actually listen. Leaning in closely to him again, she squeezed his hand to pull his attention to her. 

“Please, John,” she whispered. “Please don’t leave.”

It was the exact opposite of the order she had given him on Asuras, and his eyes flashed with pain.

“How...” He struggled for a breath. “How can you not blame me?”

“You never stopped looking,” she said, remembering back to the map she had found in his quarters. “It doesn’t matter that you only came to that planet because of Danny. You found me and you brought me home. You were willing to die to make sure I got out of there.” Elizabeth paused, running her free hand across his forehead. “I would trust you with my life any day of the week, John Sheppard. I made the right choice choosing you for my military commander and my most trusted friend. I have never regretted those decisions. Never.”

John squeezed her hand, eyes never leaving hers. She knew how good he was at holding onto guilt. There had been plenty of late nights on Atlantis where they had shared stories of their lives on Earth, things they wouldn’t ever tell to anyone else. Though John wasn’t terribly good at sharing, Elizabeth could see beyond his words and she knew that he couldn’t let go of his perceived failures. It was staggering and painful to know that he looked at her as one of his greatest failures. Looking at him now, she willed him to understand that the past was behind them and that she wouldn’t want anyone else by her side. She would always choose him. 

She saw it in his eyes before she heard the change in his breathing. Smiling down at him through her tears, Elizabeth leaned down and pressed a kiss to his forehead, letting it linger as he took long, deep breaths. Pulling back slightly, she helped him remove the dead vines, inwardly wincing at the red welts across his torso.

“I am glad you could accept forgiveness, Colonel Sheppard,” Tel’Aram said, stepping into the room. He carried white towels in his arms and laid them at the foot of the bed. “Many times that is the hardest part.”

John glanced up at Ronon. “Well, sometimes we just need things put into perspective. Plus, I really like breathing.”

The monk’s mouth twitched as he suppressed a smirk. “I have found that most people do. The struggle against the vines is difficult and tiring. We have a ceremonial bath to cleanse you of the evil. It is just down the hall, the third door on the left. You will have total privacy while you bathe.”

“Thanks.” He sniffed at the air. “I do seem to be a little ripe.”

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. “A little?”

John made a face at her and then slid out of bed, taking a moment to steady himself. His body was more sore than it usually was after fighting his way out a tough situation, and he hoped that the “ceremonial bath” could loosen up some of the muscles. Throwing a small smile at Elizabeth, he slowly followed Tel’Aram out of the room. 

Once they were gone, Ronon glanced over at Elizabeth. “You’re not really going to stay here, are you?”

“Is there some place else I’m supposed to be?”

Ronon looked pointedly in the direction John had gone and Elizabeth blushed. 

“I’m not sure John would appreciate the company.”

He actually rolled his eyes. “I’m pretty sure you’re the only one Sheppard wants to share a ceremonial bath with. You two are ridiculous.”

She couldn’t exactly disagree with that. Her mind flashed back to the way he had looked at her when they found her in the Wraith lab, to the way he had kissed her when he thought he was never going to see her again. She remember the look in his eyes on the morning he had gotten his sight back and she had kissed him. All of that, and they had still managed to avoid the elephant in the room. 

“Thank you, Ronon,” she said, stepping past him and out of the room.

She was done wasting time.

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John wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but when he stepped into the “ceremonial bath,” he couldn’t do much except stop and stare for a minute. Though the room was clearly manmade, it was more like a room had been built _around_ a natural waterfall. The water spilled out from a point high in one wall and cascaded down into a large pool. Instead of a marble or tile floor there was grass, soft and inviting beneath his bare feet. A large tree grew in the far corner of the room, its blossoms a beautiful color that rested somewhere between pink and purple. It all took his breath away. 

He moved closer to the water, closing his eyes and breathing in the warm mist coming off of the waterfall. There had been so much weighing on him for so long. Guilt was like a second skin, the regrets of his life hanging off of him like chains. He knew that the main thrust of his guilt had been Elizabeth. Though there had been other people in his life he had let down, none hurt the way it had when he flew away from Asuras without her by his side. 

And yet she had forgiven him. John wasn’t sure he entirely understood how or why, but he was starting to learn that it didn’t really matter. He had looked into her eyes as she said the words, and he believed her. He trusted Elizabeth more than anyone else - he had no choice but to take her at her word. 

He wasn’t a big fan of symbolic moments, but John couldn’t escape the fact that the vines loosening and falling away had been bigger than just Elizabeth giving him the forgiveness he had so desperately needed. There was plenty in his past to feel guilty about, to carry with him, to weigh him down. Giving into those regrets now, though, would only distract him from things right in front of him. He had a group of people depending on him for safety and guidance, and failing them because he couldn’t get past his own issues would be the biggest failure of all. 

John knew that he wasn’t “fixed.” He knew that a switch couldn’t just be flipped to turn him into a different, more well-adjusted man. But for the first time in a couple of years, he could take in a deep breath and his chest didn’t ache. That was victory enough. 

Walking down to the water’s edge, he dipped one foot in, letting the warm water lap at his toes. It was perfect, and he suddenly couldn’t wait to get in it. A quiet rustle behind him made him pause, though, and he turned around, expecting to see Tel’Aram come to tell him something he had forgotten. 

Instead, it was just Elizabeth walking towards him, a small smile on her face. She moved until she was much closer than she normally allowed herself to get, and John found that he could feel the heat coming off of her body. 

He swallowed roughly. “Everything okay?”

She nodded. Her eyes drifted down from his face to his dog tags and then eventually settled on the angry red marks across his torso. Reaching out a hand, she gently trailed her fingers down one of them as though she were tracing it. John’s eyes fluttered shut at the contact, his breath hitching. Forcing his eyes back open, he caught her hand in his, not pulling it away, but just stopping the movement.

“‘Lizabeth,” he breathed.

She stepped closer, resting her head against his. “We’ve been doing this dance for a long time.”

John nodded, tightening his grip on her hand. “I think the song just changed.”

Elizabeth smiled and rested her other hand on his waist. “I think we’re only just noticing it.”

She kissed him, softly but without any hesitation. John sighed against her lips, letting his body press against hers as one arm snaked around her back. There was no flurry of motion, no frenzied desperation like he had imagined more than once when they had been leading Atlantis. Elizabeth ran her hands across his skin as though they had the power to heal him, and he wasn’t entirely sure that they didn’t. The red welts seemed to cool at her touch, and he was breathing easier even as she stole the breath from his lungs. 

He stepped back until his feet were in the water, not caring that his pants were getting wet. Elizabeth followed him instinctively, angling her head to take the kiss deeper. John’s hands slipped under her shirt, suddenly overwhelmed by the amount of things just falling into place inside of his head and his heart. Pulling back slightly, he struggled to keep from drowning in his own emotions.

Elizabeth cupped his face in her hands. “John?”

He shook his head, trying to let her know that there wasn’t anything wrong. Forcing himself to meet her eyes, all he could whisper was “Finally.”

She nodded and kissed the corner of his mouth. “I know.”

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Kono found him sitting just outside of the temple, hair still wet from the “ceremonial bath” the monks had offered him. Her stomach still hurt from the knot it had been tied into while the vines slowly choked the life out of him, but she forced herself to walk over and sit down beside him on the rock. Their shoulders touched, and for the first time in months, he didn’t flinch at the contact.

“Thank you,” Steve said quietly, staring off into the distance.

Kono frowned. “For what?”

“Forgiving me.”

She shook her head. “There was nothing to forgive, Steve. You shouldn’t have had to do that in the first place. I should have been stronger. I should have -”

He reached out and rested his hand on her knee, turning so that he could look over at her. “You don’t have anything to apologize for, Kono. Nobody should ever be faced with a decision like that. Not being able to pull the trigger doesn’t make you any weaker. It makes you human.”

His expression was sincere, and for the first time since Chin had died, Kono realized that he didn’t hate her. 

“Thank you,” she whispered, “for being there. For being willing to...” She swallowed roughly, unable to finish.

Steve nodded, looking back out over the grounds. “I miss him,” he said after a long moment, his voice tight.

Kono leaned over, resting her head on his shoulder as she slipped an arm through his. “Me too.”

He kissed the top of her head and closed his eyes.

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It wasn’t difficult to get Grace to sleep that night. She was emotionally drained from worrying about her father, and soon after Danny got back from washing up, she was dozing in Malia’s arms. He smiled down at her as he picked her up and carried her to the bed the monks had provided for her. He had always known that his daughter was strong, but the bravery she had shown since they had left Earth was just staggering. If he was any more proud of her, he was afraid his chest would actually burst.

Tucking her in, his mind fell back to Gabby, to the sincerity in her voice when she had told him that he was doing a good job with Grace. Ever since they had arrived in Atlantis, the British woman had done her absolute best to take care of both of them, risking her life to make sure that they were safe. Deep down, he knew that was why she had insisted on telling Grace about everything that had happened with Rachel. She had been willing to make the hard decision, to sacrifice whatever she had with Danny to make sure that his daughter didn’t lose her father. 

He winced as he remembered the words he’d thrown at her before she’d walked out. The fear of losing Grace emotionally had been a hundred times worse than the knowledge that he would die if she couldn’t forgive him. It didn’t matter that his silence ensured that she _couldn’t_ forgive him. He just never wanted his little girl to know that he had put a bullet through her mother’s head. Danny knew now that his actions hadn’t been guided by a desire to do what was best for Grace. He had been selfish. He never wanted to look into his daughter’s eyes and see hate there. He was so afraid of it that he had been willing to die and leave her in the care of others. Fathers were supposed to be willing to die _for_ their daughters, not because of their own fears. He had almost failed his Grace.

Danny knew that he owed Gabby an apology. She had every right to be angry with him, and he was fully prepared to do some begging to get her to forgive him. Laying down in his own bed, he promised himself that he would do that just as soon as she came back. 

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“You’re not looking so good, D,” Steve said as they pushed on with their journey toward the next clue and the next Gate address.

Danny stared up ahead, where Gabby walked with Grace hand-in-hand. “It’s been three days.”

“Three days since what?”

“Since Gabby talked to me.”

Steve frowned. “What?”

Danny sighed and told him the whole story. Usually he was quicker about sharing things with his best friend, but he’d been almost entirely focused on being with Grace ever since they left the temple. He kept telling himself that Gabby would talk to him eventually, give him a chance to say how truly sorry he was.

“You haven’t apologized yet?” Steve asked in disbelief.

“She won’t talk to me! How am I supposed to apologize to someone who won’t even look me in the eye?”

“You share a tent, Danny. Just wait for her to come to bed -”

“She hasn’t been sleeping with us.”

“What are you talking about?”

Danny gave a hopeless shrug. “She spends time during the day with Grace, but after sunset, I never see her. I stayed up the entire night one night and she never came in. Ronon said she’s been standing watch a lot with him, but...” He shook his head in frustration. 

Steve paused, looking around at the trees as they continued to walk. “You ever think that maybe she’s just giving you what you asked for?”

“What?”

“You told her you’d never forgive her. Maybe she’s just acting on the assumption that you haven’t.”

Danny was quiet for a few minutes after that, hands clenching and unclenching at his side. Eventually he breathed in sharply, rubbing at the side of his face.

“So you’re saying that maybe I shouldn’t be waiting for her to come to me,” he said quietly.

“If nothing else, man, you owe it to her to man up and apologize - even if she ends up telling you to go to hell.”

Danny nodded. “Right. I’m sure this is gonna go _great_.”

He waited until the group settled down for the night. Steve and Kono occupied Grace, while Danny kept an eye on Gabby. When she seemed about to disappear into the growing shadows, he walked over and took her hand, squeezing tightly.

“Walk with me,” he said quietly, letting the desperation that he felt seep into his voice. 

Gabby stared at him for what felt like forever and then nodded, letting him lead her a little ways away from the camp. Danny made sure that he could still see the fire that Lorne had built and then stopped, turning to face her as they stood in a small copse of trees. 

“You know,” he said, “every night I keep waiting for you to come into the tent so that I can talk to you. But you never do.”

She frowned in confusion. “You told me, Daniel. You said...”

“I know. I know what I said and I know that it was the most unfair thing I could possibly say to you. I wasn’t thinking with my head, Gabby. I was so fucking terrified that my daughter was going to hate me and that that was the last thing I would know before I died.”

“So you asked me to let you die?” she asked, her own voice laced with anger. “What would I have told her when everyone else recovered except for you? We knew what could save you, Daniel. And you have _always_ underestimated how much your daughter loves you. How could you be willing to abandon her like that? She deserved the chance to save you!”

“I know,” he said, voice wavering and eyes watering. “I know. Trust me, Gabby, I have done nothing but beat myself up over this since we left that place. I am sorry, okay? I am so unbelievably sorry. You did what I was supposed to do. You put Grace’s well-being above everything else. I am sorry,” he repeated, stepping forward and tentatively taking a hold of her upper arms, “and I am so very thankful that you were willing to risk everything for her. Okay, it is because of _you_ that I am alive, and that I am no longer carrying this horrible guilt around. It is because of _you_ that Grace still has a father and that I’m here to hold her and tuck her in at night.” Danny paused, looking her in the eye. “The only thing that is missing, is _you_.”

Gabby ducked her head, momentarily closing her eyes. Danny worried that she was going to pull away, but instead she moved just a little closer, and he felt some of the tension ease out of her. 

“I really didn’t think you were going to forgive me,” she murmured. 

Her hands came to rest on his hips, and Danny slid his own hands up until he was cupping her face and resting his forehead against hers. “You didn’t do anything wrong,” he whispered. “I just want you to come home.”

She opened her eyes before nodding slowly. Danny leaned in and kissed her softly, inwardly amazed at how this woman had become such an integral part of his life. There was no hesitancy as she kissed him back, and before long, Danny had her pressed up against a nearby tree as they struggled to get even closer to each other. Pulling back to breath, he pressed small kisses to her jaw and neck, sighing against her.

“We should head back,” Gabby murmured. “There’s dinner, and Gracie...”

Danny nodded. “Think maybe we could convince her to have a sleepover with her Uncle Steve and Auntie Kono?” he asked hopefully.

Gabby smiled and pressed her lips to his temple. “I think that can be arranged.”

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Teyla walked towards the rear of the group, keeping an eye on their surroundings. It had been more than two weeks since they had left the temple behind, and they had traveled to another five planets. Things had been quiet of late, and their group had fallen into a routine, almost comfortable in their current situation. Though Teyla was enjoying the break as well, she refused to let her guard down. In her experience, it was the moment one did that when the tides changed and she did not want to be caught unawares. 

Hyper-vigilance would wear her out quickly, though, so she let her eyes settle on her companions from time to time. John and Elizabeth walked with other people, but they were never much further than arm’s length away from each other. Everyone in the camp knew that the two had finally gotten their affairs in order; Teyla was especially glad to see her two friends so happy. Though their time in Atlantis had been full of amazement and discovery, there had also been a great deal of pain, and John and Elizabeth usually suffered the brunt of it. Despite the fact that they were essentially homeless, they had found a safety and surety in each other that buoyed them. 

Danny and Gabby were much the same way. Teyla didn’t know much of Danny’s story, but it had been obvious that he and his daughter had been carrying great pains when they arrived in Atlantis. That never fully went away, but their smiles now reached their eyes, and they seemed genuinely happy. Gabby had been a part of the Atlantis expedition from the very beginning, but Teyla had always gotten the feeling that she kept herself emotionally separate from most of the people around her. That, too, seemed to have changed since joining Danny and Grace and completing their little family. 

As Teyla’s attention moved on, she wondered if it was natural for the people around her to pair off, given their situation. She didn’t doubt that all of the feelings were genuine, but she suspected that in a normal setting it would take longer for her friends to admit to those feelings. There was really nothing to hold them back out here, though. There was no rank, no higher authority to tell them that they couldn’t be together. There were no conflicts of interest. Their lives were never going to be what they were; all they could really do was make sure that they were safe and happy. 

Allowing herself a small smile, she wondered how much longer it would be before the other pairs would make it official. When her eyes landed on Malia and Carson, she thought that perhaps some had progressed and simply not said anything. 

Not everything gave her a good feeling, however, and as her gaze fell on Ronon striding up at the front of the column, she felt a familiar knot in her stomach. They had been lovers for more than a year now, and there wasn’t anyone in their little group who didn’t know that they were together. Thinking back on it, Teyla wasn’t surprised that they had come together. She and Ronon had much in common and he had been a rock for her through many difficult times. She felt complete with him and knew that it was unnecessary for her to seek out anyone else to make her happy.

But she could feel the restlessness inside of him. It had been a long time since they’d come up against any Wraith, and the need to kill them was almost like an itch that sat between his shoulder blades. She could feel it as they lay together in the darkness of their tent. She could feel it every time he touched her. 

It made her afraid. 

Teyla fully believed that they would find a place to settle down. She didn't know if it was going to be a twin city to Atlantis, or if they would have to find somewhere else, but eventually they would settle. Danny had his daughter to think of, and she didn't think it out of the realm of possibility for others to be considering starting families of their own. It was natural. She feared that Ronon did not want that, though. If the group were to settle down and he couldn't actively go after the Wraith, Teyla believed that he would set off on his own to chase down his vengeance. A part of her wanted to be angry with him, but that was hard when she understood. The life he had known and the people he had loved had been taken from him by the Wraith. He had suffered over and over again at their hands. It was a vendetta that wouldn't simply disappear. She couldn't hold that against him.

But she wanted him to stay. The need and the desperation were becoming so strong that they hit her in the chest, making it difficult to breathe. 

"Hey, you okay?" Mary asked, dropping back to walk by her side.

Startled out of her thoughts, Teyla forced a smile onto her face. "Yes. I was just thinking."

"Liar," she replied, a smile on her face softening her words. "You forget that my brother is the king of repressing emotions. I'm pretty good at calling people's bluffs." Mary shrugged. "It's okay, though. You don't have to talk."

Teyla wasn't planning on saying anything in response to that, but her mouth betrayed her. "It has been awhile since I've talked with someone," she said slowly. "If you are sure you're willing to listen...?"

Mary smiled. "I'm all ears."

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Gabby hummed quietly as she ran her fingers through Grace’s hair. It may not have seemed important to other people, but she tried to keep the strands from knotting as much as possible. There was so much in the jungles and forests that could snag the long hair, and being out of quality shampoo and conditioner wasn’t helping matters. Gabby made a point of sitting down every night in front of the fire and working her fingers through Grace’s hair until it was smooth and then she would braid it. Sometimes it was a French braid, other times braided pig tails. She tried to use enough variety to keep Grace’s attention, but she also wanted it to be functional.

The group around the fire was quiet that afternoon. Food rations were low, so they had decided to stop earlier than usual to set up camp. Danny, Steve, Teyla, and Lorne had gone out to do some hunting in the surrounding forest, leaving the rest of them to get everything set up for their overnight stay. 

“Gabby?”

She stopped her humming. “Yes, darling?”

“Do you sing?”

Gabby smiled even though Grace couldn’t see her face. “I’ve been known to carry a tune from time to time.”

The little girl let out a long sigh. “I miss music. I mean, I miss a lot of things from home, but I really miss music. I didn’t think to pack my iPod when we left.”

“I doubt the batteries would be working now anyway.”

“Would you sing something?” Grace asked. “For me?”

“I can’t promise anything wonderful,” she warned, “but I can give it a try.”

Turning her attention back to Grace’s hair, Gabby began gathering the strands to start the braid. She shuffled through the songs she knew in her head before finally settling on one. Everyone else around the campfire quieted down as she began to sing, but Gabby kept her full focus on the task at hand, weaving in flowers she had picked earlier to add some color.

Heart beats fast   
Colors and promises   
How to be brave   
How can I love when I'm afraid   
To fall   
But watching you stand alone   
All of my doubt   
Suddenly goes away somehow   
One step closer 

I have died everyday waiting for you   
Darlin' don't be afraid I have loved you for a   
Thousand years   
I'll love you for a   
Thousand more 

Time stands still   
beauty in all she is   
I will be brave   
I will not let anything   
Take away   
What's standing in front of me  
Every breath,   
Every hour has come to this   
One step closer 

I have died everyday waiting for you   
Darlin' don't be afraid I have loved you for a   
Thousand years   
I'll love you for a   
Thousand more 

I have died everyday   
Waiting for you   
Darlin' don't be afraid,   
I have loved you for a   
Thousand years   
I'll love you for a   
Thousand more   
And all along I believed   
I would find you   
Time has brought   
Your heart to me   
I have loved you for a   
Thousand years   
I'll love you for a   
Thousand more

As she finished singing, Gabby looped the braid around Grace's head and secured it so that it was like a circlet. The flowers weren't anything terribly exotic-looking, but the pinks and yellows acted as a nice accent, and as Grace turned to face her, she couldn't help but smile.

"You look lovely, darling," she said.

Grace hugged her. "Do you think you could sing to me some other time, too?"

"I will sing to you anytime you'd like. In fact -"

There was a rustle in the nearby bushes and Ronon was there in an instant, his gun at the ready. Instead of an intruder though, it was Danny that came crashing out, followed by Lorne. Both of them were out of breath and red in the face, and Gabby's stomach knotted as she pushed herself to her feet.

"What is it?" Elizabeth asked, coming up to them. "Where are the others?"

"We ran into another tribe," Lorne replied, glancing over at Danny. "They took McGarrett hostage."

"What?" John exclaimed, standing next to Elizabeth. "What the hell for?"

"They're a matriarchal society," Lorne explained. "Think Amazons, but...well...a lot scarier. Men aren't allowed to be 'unclaimed' on this planet." He shrugged. "I don't know how, but they took one look at Danny and said he was claimed already. They said I belonged to someone, too." He shot a quick glance at Cadman before blushing. "They used poison darts to get McGarrett. We tried to buy him some time, said that he _was_ claimed, but that she was back at our camp. They said we could come get the woman he belongs to. Teyla stayed with him."

Kono ducked into her tent and quickly reemerged, strapping on a belt that held a long hunting knife. She also pulled a gun out of her waistband and checked to make sure that it was fully loaded before slipping it back into place.

"Unclaimed my ass," she muttered. "Let's go get him."

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Nobody liked to split the camp, but it wasn’t safe to bring the entire group to what seemed to be a hostile tribe. Danny had pulled Gabby aside, and she could see it in his face that he was going to ask her to stay. She didn’t want to - Steve was her friend, too - but she understood why he was asking her. Grace was the most important thing in his life and he’d be able to focus on the task at hand better if he knew she was safe. Gabby couldn’t argue that with him. Lorne and Cadman stayed as well to guard the camp, while John, Danny, Elizabeth, Ronon, and Kono headed out to rescue their friends. 

It took them nearly two hours to reach their destination. A crowd of women stood around Steve, who was down on his knees with a chain around his neck, while a tall woman in red robes pointed at Teyla. 

“I believe that you have deceived us, Teyla Emmagan,” she said loudly. “This man is unclaimed and therefore fair game. By the laws of our people I -”

John was still trying to figure out how they were going to get McGarrett out of this situation when Kono charged through to the center of the group. Without any hesitation, she grabbed Steve by the collar of his t-shirt and dragged him up until his mouth met hers. The kiss was long and hard, and when she let go of him he sank back down to his knees, staring up at her in disbelief.

“I claim him,” she said, her voice low and deadly as she stared down the woman in the red robes. “Anyone who wants to call that into question can fight me. But this man is mine and he _will_ be leaving with me.”

The woman had a good three inches on Kono, but she made no move. “He does not believe himself to be claimed.”

Kono’s eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”

She waved towards Danny. “It is obvious that this one knows where he belongs. He is claimed by both a daughter and a lover.” She pointed at John. “It is obvious that his heart belongs to the woman beside him.” Her attention moved to Ronon. “I can even feel the link between this one and Teyla Emmagan, though there is a choice before him that I don’t quite understand.” She turned her eyes back to Steve. “But this one...there is no such link to be felt. He believes himself to be alone.” Her gaze was hard as she looked at Kono. “He does not accept your claim on him.”

For a moment, the entire group was shocked into silence. No one understood how this woman was reading them so accurately. Kono didn’t stay quiet for long, though, and she stepped forward until there was almost no space between them.

“So you would hold someone’s lack of self-worth against them?”

The woman frowned. “I don’t understand.”

Kono pointed back at Steve. “This man? He doesn’t just belong to me.” She moved her hand until she was pointing at Danny. “That man right there loves him like a brother. He would die for him. And Danny’s daughter? She loves Steve and considers him family, even though they don’t share blood. He belongs to both of them. He has a sister who loves him. And he has me. We’re _ohana_ , family.” She looked back at Steve for a moment, sadness in her eyes as she considered him. “You say that you can’t feel those links. But what you’re feeling is his inability to believe that people love him. Steve loves with his whole heart, but he can’t understand that people feel the same way about him. He thinks the only thing he has to offer to people is his life, and he gives it freely for the people he loves, never expecting anything in return.” Her eyes bored into the woman in front of her. “But understand _this_. Whether he believes it or not, whether it takes me the rest of my life to make sure he believes, he _belongs_ to us. He is Danny’s, and he is Grace’s, and he is Mary’s, and he is mine, and you are _not_ going to take him from us. Come hell or high water, we are leaving with Steve. I suggest you get the hell out of our way.”

John held his breath, hand itching to move towards his gun as Kono and the woman in red stared each other down. Kono’s voice had left him with no doubts that she would actually fight for McGarrett, but he didn’t like the odds. His people were outnumbered, and any type of fight was going to be heavy with bloodshed. John was really hoping they could avoid that. His eyes sought out Danny, and he saw the former detective easing himself closer to his friends, obviously hoping to get a jump on those around him if this thing went south. Moving his attention to Ronon, he saw the Satedan give him a slight nod. If it came down to it, they were as ready as they were going to be.

But the woman in red didn’t attack. She stared at Kono for a long time before finally nodding, the tension and haughtiness easing out of her. 

“What you say is true,” she said slowly, as though she had somehow verified the information for herself. “Your claim will not be challenged.” She gestured to someone behind McGarrett. “Free him.”

Kono didn’t drop her gaze until she heard the chains falling away from Steve, and then she turned to help him to his feet. He swallowed roughly as their eyes met, but she just gave him a small smile, one hand coming up to gently probe a cut on his forehead. 

“You have been claimed by an unusually strong woman,” his former captor said. “Do not let yourself be torn from her.”

Steve shook his head slowly, still staring at Kono in wonder. “I won’t,” he said quietly.

John let out a long breath as he realized that the situation had been diffused. Sharing a glance with Elizabeth, he nodded at her and she stepped forward.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” she said gently, “but we would like to get back to our camp. We -”

The woman drew in a sharp breath, her eyes blazing for a moment. “You have to go back,” she said hurriedly. “There is another...he seeks you...” Her attention snapped to Danny. “You could lose everything,” she whispered.

Elizabeth frowned. “I don’t understand. How -”

“Go!” the woman yelled, her tone frantic. “Your people are in danger!”

The ferocity of her voice sent a cold knot into the pit of John’s stomach, and as he looked at his companions, he knew that they were feeling it as well. Moving backwards just in case it was a trap, he gestured to the others.

“Move!” he called out. 

They ran. John had planned on slowing them down once they neared their camp, but the smoke rising up out of the trees pushed away any thoughts of caution. Danny and Steve were the first ones rushing in, guns drawn. They had expected to see the entire camp up in flames, but most of the tents were still standing. Supplies were strewn about as though there had been a struggle and there were multiple footprints all over the ground. The excess smoke had been caused by a body burning up in their campfire; Ronon walked over and used his foot to kick the corpse over, even though they could tell it wasn’t human.

“Wraith,” he growled.

Danny struggled between not being able to breathe and wanting to be sick. He could see the same expressions on Kono and Steve’s faces as they went through the tents one by one and found them empty.

“Grace!” he called out, unable to stop himself. “Grace!”

When he didn’t get an answer, tears came to his eyes and his chest felt tighter than when the vines had been trying to choke the life out of him. The idea of his little girl in the hands of those monsters...A small voice in the back of his head reminded him that Gabby had been with her, and Gabby would do whatever she had to do to keep Grace safe. She would give her life for that little girl -”

A sudden splashing caught his attention, and they all whirled toward the river that ran along the back of their camp. Guns drawn, they waited, tense and wary. Danny was ready to shoot just about anything that showed up, if only to vent some of the building pressure inside of him. 

When he saw the person come through the trees, though, he dropped his gun and rushed forward, gathering her up into his arms.

“Grace,” he breathed, holding her tightly despite her soaked clothing. “Oh, baby, you’re okay. You’re okay.”

She nodded, obviously chilled from the water. “Gabby said not to come out until I heard you call for me. Is she okay, Danno? There was shooting and yelling and I heard someone scream.”

“They left a trail,” Ronon called from across the camp. “Pretty obvious one.”

“You think they want us to follow them?” Kono asked.

“Looks that way.”

John came over to Grace, squatting down next to her. “Grace...did you see any of the men? Can you tell me what they looked like.”

She frowned, thinking over the question. “They were mostly the monsters. There were a couple of men, though. Dr. Beckett knew one of them.”

“How do you know that, monkey?” Danny asked.

“He said his name.”

“And what was his name.”

“I think he said Kolya.”

John’s entire body tensed and he looked right up at Elizabeth, her expression mirroring his. Grace was the only one in the group truly unfamiliar with the man; as they had continued their journey towards Atlantis’ fabled sister city, a lot of stories had been shared, including those about the former Genii leader. 

“If it is Kolya,” Teyla said quietly, “then I believe we can be sure that he wants us to follow him. He always has a design in the works.”

“Why, though?” Elizabeth asked. “Why is he coming after us again?”

“Because he can’t let go,” John said tightly, getting back to his feet. “Because he hates the fact that he keeps coming after me and I’m still alive.”

“And he has proven more than once that he wants to cause you and John as much pain as possible,” Teyla added. “He might even know that there are legends of a sister city. If he does...”

“Then he might want to use us to find it,” Elizabeth finished. “Great. He has our people _and_ he’s in our way. I’m really getting tired of him.”

“I plan on killing him,” John said casually.

“And if he doesn’t, I will,” Ronon promised.

“I don’t think there’s anyone here that’s going to argue for his life,” Steve added. “He’s got our friends. He’s got my sister. Any of us gets the chance, put him down.” He turned to John. “So how do you want to do this?”

The real problem was Grace. They needed to keep her safe, even while they needed every available gun to go after their friends. Truth be told, John didn’t want Elizabeth going either, but he didn’t think that leaving her behind to protect Grace was the best solution, either. He wanted someone with a gun and experience to be watching over them. His first choice would have been Ronon or McGarrett, but he needed both of them against Kolya. The whole situation just sucked. 

“I will stay with her,” Teyla offered.

Surprised, John just stared at her. “What?”

“You are all worried about Grace. She cannot go near Kolya. If he had been aware that we had a child with us and could get his hands on her, he would use her to his advantage. We cannot allow that to happen. We will pack up the camp and move everything to a safer location. There are probably caves in the mountains to the east. Grace and I will wait for you there.”

John was used to having Teyla by his side in a fight, and he knew that not having her there would be difficult for Ronon as well. But Grace’s safety had to come first. He looked over at Elizabeth, but she was already shaking her head. 

“Don’t ask me to do that, John.”

“There’s going to be fighting, ‘Lizabeth.”

“Then give me a gun. But don’t ask me to stay here when my people are in trouble. That’s not how I do things.”

More than anything, he wanted to try to convince her to stay with Teyla and Grace. He knew her too well, though, and he could see it in her eyes. She was going to see this thing through and she was going to be standing by his side while she did it. He couldn’t help but be proud of her.

“Then let’s get started,” he said, nodding at her. “We get Grace and Teyla set up and then we head out. I want Kolya’s head on a stake by morning.”

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They didn't catch up with them until after nightfall, but following them hadn't been difficult. It was obvious that they weren't trying to hide their trail and no one in the group was surprised to see that Kolya had his people camped out in front of the Stargate. He had more Wraith around him than humans, and they had set fires all around their camp, making it impossible to approach them unseen. Whatever Kolya wanted, he was determined to get a final confrontation. 

John was going to make sure that he got it. 

He stepped out of the shadows and out into the open, where Kolya and his people could get a good look at him. He was armed, but his weapons were holstered; He knew that his team was behind him with their guns at the ready and Kono was somewhere close with a sniper rifle. Steve had assured him that she was a hell of a shot. 

It didn’t take long for Kolya to notice him, but John was too busy cataloging the people kneeling behind him. They were all there - Carson, Malia, Radek, Mary, Cadman, Lorne, and Gabby - with their hands tied behind their backs. Everyone was bruised, but Cadman, Lorne, and Gabby looked like they had borne the brunt of it. John knew that those three had to have been hit hard in order for Kolya to be able to take the whole camp down. He remembered that Gabby had taken the time to hide Grace as well, which meant that she hadn’t been around for the entire fight. And even a former spy couldn’t take out all the firepower John could see. They were alive though, and for that he was grateful. Now they just had to get them out of there. 

“Colonel Sheppard,” Kolya said expansively, holding his arms open as he turned to face him. “I knew you would join us eventually.”

“You know how I feel about you taking my people, Kolya. And you have to know that this time I’m going to kill you for it.”

“You should be happy that Dr. Weir was not in the camp when we got there. I have to admit that she’s the one I really wanted.”

“Why?” John asked. “Your obsession with hurting me is getting a little creepy. You’re not exactly my type, if you know what I mean.”

Kolya’s gaze hardened. “You took things from me that I loved very deeply, Sheppard. I fully plan on returning the favor.” He paused, obviously pulling his anger back under control. “Speaking of Dr. Weir...how is she dealing with her new powers?

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t tell me they haven’t manifested yet. The Wraith had her for a long time, Sheppard. They managed to destroy the nanites inside of her and make her fully human again. Those experiments they ran, though, had certain side effects.” His mouth curled into a cold smile. “Side effects that would eventually equip me to punch my way through Atlantis’ shields.”

Realization slowly dawned on John. “So that’s how you did it,” he said quietly. “You let the Wraith turn you into some kind of genetic freak?”

“Super soldier, actually. And don’t forget...they had Dr. Weir and your other companion first. They did not get out unscathed.”

It was obvious that Kolya was getting a perverse kind of joy out of telling him these things. John wondered what, exactly, he was expecting to happen. Was Kolya trying to make him doubt Elizabeth? Did he really think he would turn on her because the Wraith had experimented on her? He couldn’t understand how Kolya could still fail so terribly in his reading of John even after all these years. The man didn’t seem to learn. 

“What exactly is your play here, Kolya?” he asked, deciding to just be straightforward. “You kill my people, you kill me...and then what? You go back to playing errand boy for the Wraith? I gotta say, buddy...that seems kind of beneath you.”

The other man laughed. “I have plans, Sheppard, and they do not involve a quick death for either you or Dr. Weir. Though you _will_ watch her die, I can assure you. Before that happens, though, I’m going to get the information on Atlantis’ twin out of you, and then I’m going to go to that city and claim it for myself. You denied me the city that I wanted in the first place - that will not happen again.”

“Torture and death,” John mused. “You really are a broken record, aren’t you?”

“Your joking grows tiresome, Colonel. Should you wish to spare any of your companions the torture I have in mind for them, kindly give me the information you have on the city.”

John made a face. “Yeah, because trusting you usually gets people so far. I think I’ll have to pass.”

“Then you have signed Dr. Beckett’s death order.”

John was struggling for his own weapon even as Kolya swung his gun to point at Carson’s head. There was a cry of terror from Malia, but behind that, there was a wordless scream coming from somewhere in the trees. John recognized the voice as belonging to Elizabeth, and his heart plummeted at the thought of something happening to her. 

He didn’t have time to follow that thought through, though. A strange green light blasted through the entire camp, knocking Kolya and his small army down even as the earth shook. John turned back in surprise to see Elizabeth away from the trees. She had fallen to her knees, both hands pressed into the dirt in front of her. Breathing heavily, she stared down at her hands as though they had both saved and betrayed her. She looked up, her eyes searching out his in the firelight.

“John,” she breathed, her voice shaking.

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Chaos erupted. 

Still standing behind the tree line, Danny and his companions could hear everything that Kolya was saying to Sheppard, and it made Danny’s mind race. He hadn’t been in the facility nearly as long as Elizabeth, but they had done numerous experiments on him, poking and prodding him with needles at every opportunity. Could they have done something to change him? Why hadn’t he noticed anything before now?

But when Elizabeth sent a shock wave through the camp, knocking everyone to their feet, Danny didn’t have any more time to think things through. Shots erupted from Kono’s position as she did her best to take out as many of Kolya’s army as possible. Ronon and Steve were rushing forward, guns blazing. Somehow, Gabby had managed to free herself from her bonds and was currently freeing Lorne and Cadman so that they could help the others. Danny ran forward on autopilot, gun out as he tried to zero in on a target that wouldn’t endanger any of his friends. They were too many Wraith, though, and it wasn’t long before he was out of bullets; he reached for the extra magazine on his belt, but then something caught his eye and he froze.

Though Gabby’s hands were free, she didn’t have a weapon. Radek had been knocked down in the confusion and she was struggling with his ropes, fighting to get him free. With the gunshots and yelling, she couldn’t hear the Wraith coming up behind her, and Danny didn’t have any bullets in his gun to take the bastard down. 

Fear wrapped itself around his heart and squeezed. This was a woman that had saved his daughter during the fall of Atlantis. She had risked herself to hide Grace when the camp had been attacked. She had risked her relationship with Danny to give Grace a chance to save her father. She had given him and Grace a solid family, loving them both, taking care of them both. Danny couldn’t imagine doing any of this without her and now all of that was being threatened. 

Without thinking, he dropped his gun and swung his right arm like he was throwing something. All of the fear and anger built up inside of him and he could actually feel it traveling down his shoulder, through his arm, and into his hand. He watched in amazement as a green light shot out of his palm, racing forward before colliding with the Wraith that was coming up behind Gabby. It hit the monster straight in the chest, burning a hole through him and knocking him back onto the ground. 

Something must have caught Gabby’s attention because her head snapped up and she looked behind her before turning to find Danny in the chaos. He wasn’t sure what he would see in her expression, but there was no fear or disapproval there. She just nodded at him and finished releasing Radek from his bonds . 

Danny wasn’t sure what that meant, but at least now they’d have a later to figure it out.

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John had almost expected Kolya to make a run for it. The man had an uncanny knack for surviving despite the odds, and it would give him a chance to hit them again later when they were least expecting it. But something had seemed to snap inside of him. Instead of trying to sneak away from the fight, he was engaging Elizabeth, throwing bolts of something - energy was the best word he could come up with - at her. Elizabeth was doing her best to hit him back with her own newly-discovered abilities, but it was obvious that she didn’t know what she was doing. The smirk on Kolya’s face said that he was just toying with her, breaking her down before he defeated her completely. 

John was done, though. Kolya had gone out of his way for years to hurt him, which usually meant causing Elizabeth pain as well. He had taken her hostage and pointed a gun at her. He had taken John captive and tortured him by feeding him to a Wraith and making Elizabeth watch. He had burned Atlantis to the ground. His siege had killed Rodney. And now he was threatening Elizabeth again and John was just done. He understood why the good guy wasn’t supposed to just kill the bad guy, especially when that meant shooting at his back. But he also didn’t think that the good guy was supposed to bend over and take it, either. This needed to be finished. 

“Hey, Kolya!”

He never knew why the other man actually turned around at the sound of his name. Maybe he couldn’t help himself. Maybe he really thought that he had everything under control, and that there was no way he wouldn’t come out of this alive. In the end, John really didn’t care. His hand was steady and his aim was true and he didn’t hesitate for even a second. He just pulled the trigger. 

The bullet ripped through Kolya’s forehead, killing him before he could even hit the ground. 

John lowered the gun and looked at Elizabeth. “At least I didn’t shoot him in the back,” he quipped.

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There wasn’t much talking after the battle was won. With Kolya finally dead, Ronon was free to focus on the rest of the Wraith, and he took care of them with a zeal that bordered on disturbing. It had been awhile since he’d gotten to take on his most hated enemy; he killed them almost as if he’d never get the chance to fight them again. 

Once they were sure it was over, Danny and Gabby went to get Teyla and Grace and bring them back down. Another clue in their hands, the reunited group moved through the Stargate, eager to leave that planet behind them and rest before they faced whatever challenge came upon them next. 

It was late by the time they finally settled down, pitching their tents and building a small campfire. They were all exhausted, but Ronon and Lorne immediately offered to stand first watch, and no one argued with them. 

Gabby knew she needed sleep, but Grace had fallen asleep on her father’s lap in front of the fire, and Danny didn’t seem like he was ready to move just yet. So she moved closer to him, reaching up to run her fingers through his hair.

“Are you alright?” she asked quietly.

He continued to stare into the fire. “I should be asking you that.”

She shook her head slightly. “I think you had the more emotionally trying day, to be honest.”

Danny was quiet for a while. Gabby was just about to suggest that they put Grace to bed when he suddenly drew in a deep breath and turned to look at her.

“Thank you for protecting her.”

“You know I always will, Daniel. The two of you are my world.”

“Even after...?”

He didn’t finish the question, but Gabby knew what he was talking about. “You mean even after you shot a bright green light out of your hand and saved my life?”

“They changed me.”

“They may have made some genetic modifications, darling, but they didn’t change _you_.”

“But -”

Gabby shook her head firmly. “Look, these experiments were done _months_ ago. And granted, I didn’t know you long before they happened, but I do know that you are the same man you were before they happened. You love your daughter with every fiber of your being. You are completely loyal to the people you care about. You are a _good_ man. And when my life was in danger, your automatic response was to save me with whatever tools you had available. I don’t care if those tools were bullets or blasts of green light. It doesn’t matter.” She paused. “I love you, Daniel. Nothing has changed about that.”

Relief flickered across his face, but there was still worry in his eyes as he turned to look down at his hands where they rested on Grace. 

“What if I hurt someone?” he whispered. “What if it can’t be controlled? What if they turned me into a weapon?”

“We would notice,” Gabby said, tone resolute. “I understand being afraid that _you_ might not notice, but the rest of us _know_ you. And we will not hesitate to bring the issue up if we find you acting oddly or if we have a bad feeling. But I can honestly tell you that I don’t believe the Wraith knew what they were fiddling around with. I don’t think they made you into a weapon. I think they were messing around with genetics that they didn’t completely understand, and there are side effects. And I don’t think your powers are simply throwing around energy bolts at your enemies.”

That made him look up quickly. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve been thinking about it ever since I saw what you could do. Do you remember that injury I had after Atlantis? Carson was surprised that it healed so well.”

“No offense, babe, but I’m not exactly following the thread here...”

“It wouldn’t have occurred to me at all if Cadman hadn’t healed quickly as well. Carson had expected her to need at least another two weeks on the stretcher before she could use her crutches. And he’s still perplexed at how quickly she came off of those - and without a limp. Do you remember the day before she demanded to use her crutches and get up? Steven led a party into the woods to hunt and Beckett went along as well to gather herbs and berries. You and I sat with Laura when a bout of terrible pain went through her leg. You put your hands there and talked to her calmly, reminding her to breathe.”

Danny frowned, struggling to follow her unexpected observations. “You think _I_ did that?”

Gabby shrugged. “The next day she got up, Daniel. And when I was injured, you were the one keeping pressure on the wound. I’m not saying that I’m absolutely certain, but it’s something to explore. And having a healer or two - if Elizabeth has the same capabilities - would not be a bad thing in our current situation, would it?”

“No, it most definitely wouldn’t,” he agreed. “Especially with the Rambo clones running around.” He looked down at Grace, who was still fast asleep. “Don’t think I didn’t notice what you did there.”

“I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.”

“I distinctly heard a four-letter word we hadn’t used yet. Did you really think you could slip that one past me?”

“What makes you think I was trying to?”

Danny looked up to find her eyes locked on him, without any hesitation in them. He thought he saw a tendril of fear, though, and he gave her a small smile before leaning in to kiss her softly.

“I love you, too,” he whispered.

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Steve had no idea what he was supposed to do. He was fairly certain that he wanted to kiss Kono again - actually, there wasn't really a question as far as that went. His mind kept going back to the feel of her mouth on his, replaying the moment over and over again. 

Wanting to kiss her again wasn't the troubling part, though. Steve was at a point in his life where he could admit that he'd always found Kono physically attractive, and at some point on this journey, he had developed deep feelings for her. Whenever his mind replayed the kiss, though, it also went over the speech she'd given to the woman who had wanted to claim him. Her words burned through him, casting light on the parts of himself he'd kept in shadow for years. He hadn't even known himself that well, and yet Kono had spelled it out in front of everybody. Steve wasn't sure if that was supposed to make him feel better or if he was ashamed at his emotional ineptitude. 

His gaze drifted across the fire to where Danny, Gabby, and Grace sat. He couldn't help but smile at his friend. If anyone deserved happiness, it was him, and Steve found an odd sense of comfort in the scene. At the same time, something deep inside of him ached in an almost nauseating way. 

There was a soft touch to his elbow and he turned from his friend and his thoughts to see Kono standing behind him. A part of him was afraid to look her in the eye, but her gaze was unflinching and he forced himself to not look away. 

"I think it's time for bed," she said quietly. 

He couldn't make himself say anything. When she slid her hand down to entwine her fingers with his, Steve simply let her lead him to their tent. Once inside, Kono turned to face him and they stood there for a long moment, just staring at each other. He got the feeling he was supposed to say something, but he didn't have the faintest idea what the words were. 

Kono didn't let him struggle for long, though. Reaching up, she pressed her free hand to the side of his face, her expression gentle. 

"I'm glad we didn't lose you," she said finally. 

"You saved me," he forced out, his voice rough as though he hadn't used it for a long time. 

She shrugged. "Couldn't let that chick take my man. I'm a little territorial."

Steve swallowed roughly. "And...and I'm yours?"

"Do you want to be?"

He wanted to answer her. He wanted to say yes and kiss her and pretend that he could be a functioning half of a relationship. His mind wouldn't let him play the part, though, and his words wouldn't come. Instead, he used everything he had to force himself to nod even as he struggled to keep breathing. 

"It's okay," she whispered. "We don't have to -"

"I want to," he rumbled. "Kono, I want _you_."

Steve didn't know how he had ended up with such a wonderful woman. For every stuttering baby step forward he took, Kono took three giant leaps in his direction to close the gap. On his own, it would take him fifty years to get anywhere. He knew that with Kono, he might actually have a chance at happiness. 

Her smile widened and she stood up a little taller, brushing her lips against his. Warmth flooded through him and Steve felt something simultaneously tighten and let go inside of his chest. He stepped forward, sliding his arms around her and pulling her closer, angling his head to take the kiss deeper. 

"You're definitely mine, McGarrett," she murmured, pulling back. "Hope you didn't have any other plans."

Steve shook his head. "I think my calendar is open."

Kono grinned. "Not anymore."

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Elizabeth leaned over John's shoulder as the group left the latest village. "So what is our address this time?"

He shook his head, frowning at the small gadget in his hands. "It's not an address."

"What do you mean?"

He held it out so that she could have a better view. "It's more like a clue for a letterbox."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "You know what letterboxing is?"

John shrugged, looking out at their surroundings. "Is there any chance that saying 'yes' won't take away from my rugged manliness?"

She slipped her arm through his and leaned into him slightly. "Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me." Elizabeth lowered her voice. "And I still want to have sex with you."

John let out a relieved sigh. "As long as we're clear on that last point." He looked down at the device again. “We’re not too far now.”

He felt Elizabeth tense slightly. “Do you think it’s really here, John?” she asked, her voice low. “The city?”

He gave a little shrug despite the anticipation in his own stomach. “I don’t see why it couldn’t be.” He paused. “Sure would be nice to have a more permanent bed.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “I wonder why.”

John looked at her with feigned innocence. “That’s not the _only_ reason, ‘Lizabeth. I’m getting old. My back hurts.”

“Well I hope you’re not getting too old, Colonel. I have plans for you.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Plans? I like the sound of that.” He straightened his arm so that he could take her hand in his; looking down at the ground, he cleared his throat. “I really like the sound of that, ‘Lizabeth.”

She looked over at him, and he knew she was hearing all of the things he couldn’t say. Leaning in, she pressed a kiss to his cheek. 

“Me too,” she whispered.

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They hiked for two more days. Inwardly, John worried that they were reading the clues wrong - they were complicated, and sometimes the whole group had to stop and work their way through them. They kept pressing forward though, everyone getting the feeling that their journey was almost at an end. The hope was almost palpable and laughter flowed more easily than it had in weeks. The tribulations they had gone through weren’t forgotten, but they were pushed far enough back that they could enjoy themselves. 

When they suddenly ran out of tree cover and found themselves staring at a vast ruin at the foot of a mountain, John thought the expression on Elizabeth’s face was going to break him. 

For a long time, they all just stood there, staring at it. It was like it had been hope alone that had been propelling them forward, and now that it was gone, they had nothing left. Danny swept Grace up into his arms and held her closely as her mouth trembled. They had thought it was going to be over; now they had no idea what they were supposed to do next. 

“I’m so sorry,” Elizabeth said quietly. “I thought I was leading us toward a safe place we could call home.”

John felt his chest tighten at the defeat in her voice, but it was Teyla who stepped forward and rested a hand on her arm. 

“You did the right thing,” she insisted. “You kept us together. You gave us a goal. It didn’t work out. That only means that we have to come up with a new plan. We can do that.”

“Danno, I’m tired,” Grace said faintly.

It was only the second or third time the entire journey that the little girl had voiced a complaint and Danny’s throat suddenly closed at the emotion that welled up inside of him. “I know, Monkey,” he soothed. “We all are.”

“Teyla’s right,” Gabby said more loudly, her voice firm and steady. “We had a good plan that is, unfortunately, no longer an option. We can either let that defeat us, or we can come up with a new plan. And I, for one, do not like to wallow.”

There were small nods all around the group, but Radek was shaking his head emphatically, staring down at the device. 

“No,” he finally said. “This isn’t right. This can’t be the end.”

Elizabeth took a deep breath and moved over to him. “Radek, I’m sorry -”

He looked up, still shaking his head. “No, Elizabeth, you don’t understand. There is still one symbol in the clue. It is at the end, like a, a...footnote. We followed all of the clues and it’s the only thing left. It has to mean something.”

Mary looked over his shoulder and then at the ruins, frowning. “You think maybe we have to find the symbol in the ruins?”

Everyone turned once more to look at the fallen city. It looked a great deal like Atlantis had, but built into the rock of the mountain. Towers had collapsed and windows stood gaping like dead eyes. It was not a small city. 

“Needle in a haystack comes to mind,” Laura muttered.

Malia shrugged. “What’s our other alternative? We’re too far from the Stargate to go anywhere else before nightfall. We might as well look for a clue or this symbol until it starts to get dark and then we can set up camp.”

Carson nodded. “I agree with Malia.”

John shot him a knowing look. “Of course you do.” He sighed. “I do too, though. Alright, everybody. Take a good look at the symbol and let’s start looking. I want everyone to stay within sight of at least one other person. Who knows if something’s lurking in there.”

Lorne gave the ruins an appraising look. “If there _is_ something in there, it’s probably hungry.”

“Thank you, Major. I really needed that mental image.”

They split into smaller groups and moved into the ruins slowly. Small birds and woodland creatures skittered amongst the rocks, most darting away at the approach of humans. It was surprising, but John had to admit that he wasn’t getting any bad vibes from the place. A part of him wondered if maybe for once they were going to catch a break, but he didn’t let the thought take hold. He didn’t want to jinx them.

They searched for two hours, and John was just about to call everyone back in when Kono sent up a shout. Everyone went running and converged on her location to see her pointing at the symbol etched into a part of the mountain.

“There it is,” Radek breathed in amazement.

“So now what?” Ronon asked.

“Well, I’m not sure.” The scientist looked around for a moment before cocking his head to the side in thought. “Maybe...”

He pressed his right palm to the symbol that Kono had found, jumping slightly when the rock moved inward slightly. Nothing else happened, though. He pulled his palm away and saw that the symbol was now growing with some strange kind of light that reflected the symbol on his jacket.

“Step away, Doc,” Danny murmured. 

Radek stepped to the side and the light from the symbol fell on a nearby door. It was still intact, and the light formed itself around a set of strange indentations on it. Moving over to it, Radek pushed on the areas where the light shone.

The door opened. 

They all stared in disbelief for a moment as they looked at a pair of stairs descending into darkness. John looked over at Elizabeth and she nodded.

“Lorne, you’re up front with me,” he said, moving towards the stairs. “Ronon, McGarrett, take the rear. Everyone else fall in the middle, stay together, and keep your eyes and ears open. Teyla, grab some torches out of the bags.”

They moved down the stairs slowly, climbing down and down until they ended up in a long, dark hallway. The darkness would have been absolute if not for their torches and John was happy to see that the tunnels were large enough to accommodate the fire safely. They moved quietly, most holding their breath without even realizing it until the door up above closed loudly and Grace let out a tiny shriek.

“Sorry,” she said.

Lorne shook his head. “Scared me too, Grace. Don’t worry about it.” He leaned closer to John. “Think it’s a trap?”

“Probably. But I’m trying to think positive.”

“You let me know how that works out for you.”

The group continued to move deeper. Water dripped somewhere in the tunnel, but distance was impossible to measure with the echoes. John could feel the tension growing in his companions, and he hoped that this didn’t last too much longer. Their nerves were already too frayed to begin with.

“Took you dummies long enough.”

John and Lorne guns swung around a corner at the voice, but then John found himself lowering his weapon in disbelief at what he was seeing. Gasps echoed behind him as everyone stumbled to a stop.

“General O’Neill?”

Jack chuckled, stepping forward and putting his own gun away. “Bet you thought you’d never see me again.”

“Not when the last time we saw you, you were fighting off zombies on Earth.”

Jack’s face darkened. “We didn’t do much good. Planet fell completely a couple of weeks later. We ended up trapped back in the SGC. Tried to gate to Atlantis, but we didn’t get a signal.” He looked at Elizabeth. “We heard what happened from some people on another planet. I’m sorry, Elizabeth.”

She stepped forward and hugged him. “Thank you, Jack.”

“How did you find this place?” Ronon asked. “We’ve been hunting for it since the city fell.”

“I’d heard rumors.” He rolled his eyes. “And in case you’ve forgotten, I’m married to a genius. She figured it out.”

“Sam is here, too?” Radek asked.

“Of course. You don’t think I’d leave her to the zombies, do you?” He gestured over his shoulder. “Come on. I’ll take you in.”

“Take us in where, exactly?” Teyla asked. “The city is ruined.”

Jack smiled at her. “That’s what they wanted everyone to think.”

He turned and led them down the tunnel, branching left when it forked. Ten minutes later they could hear running water, and a breeze swept through. Hope began to build again. John prayed that they would meet more disappointment.

And they didn’t. The tunnel opened up into a lush, green valley with high mountain walls on all sides. It was a basin that looked like it had been transplanted there - a mystical haven. Wooden houses were nestled in the center, with a waterfall off to the left. John thought he could see more waterfalls further in - the valley was huge. 

Jack turned back with a grin. “Welcome to Alonia.”

John shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

“I think I do,” Elizabeth said, stepping forward. “The Ancients realized they were losing their foothold in Pegasus, didn’t they? They found this place and decided it was the perfect safe haven. So they built a ruined city to guard it.”

Jack nodded. “Pretty much. Some of them even fled here during the Wraith siege. They couldn’t get back to Atlantis, they weren’t ready to ascend, and they didn’t want to go to Earth. Their descendants are still here.” He paused. “We’ve got more than enough room, unless you want to get back to wandering the galaxy.”

Ronon rolled his shoulders. “Can we still go out and kill things once in awhile?”

“Of course. You think I could just retire peacefully? There are still Wraith out there.”

The Satedan nodded. “Cool. I’d love a real bed. And a shower.”

Teyla wrinkled her nose. “You could truly use one.” She looked up at her lover carefully. “You are really willing to stay here? I thought that perhaps you would be against settling down.”

He looked down at her and shrugged. “I still want to kill every Wraith I can get my hands on. But I found a couple of things more important than dying in a blaze of glory.”

Teyla’s mouth twitched and John leaned closer to them. “I think he means you.”

“Yes, Colonel. Thank you for pointing that out,” she said.

“Is this home, Danno?” Grace asked, her voice timid and awed all at the same time.

He held her closer and looked over at Gabby. “I think it is, Monkey. That okay with you?”

She nodded, her face erupting in a large grin. “Uncle Steve and Aunt Kono can get a house next to us, right?”

Steve chuckled. “I think we can figure something out, Gracie.”

Mary began walking forward. “Please tell me there are some single guys down there,” she muttered.

“We have a few eligible bachelors,” Jack told her as he led the group down into the valley. “Most of them are even your age.”

“Awesome.”

John and Elizabeth held back until they were the last ones in the group. He reached out a hand and smirked at her.

“Whaddya say, ‘Lizabeth? You ready to upgrade from a tent?”

She smiled and took his hand. “That depends. Am I sharing the house with you?”

“I hope so. Any other guy you decide to share it with is gonna have to get used to me hanging around. And I’ve been told I can be a little unsettling.”

“Good thing I like having you around, then.”

He leaned in and kissed her softly before pulling her along after the others.


End file.
